Part 53

“These bones are buried, almost everywhere, in nearly similar beds: they are often blended with some other animals resembling those of the present day. The beds are generally loose, either sandy or marly; and always neighboring, more or less, to the surface. It is, then, probable that these bones have been enveloped by the last, or by one of the last, catastrophes of this globe. In a great number of places they are accompanied by the accumulated remains of marine animals; but in some places, which are less numerous, there are none of these remains: sometimes the sand or marl, which covers them, contains only fresh-water shells. No well authenticated account proves that they have been covered by regular beds of stone, filled with sea-shells; and, consequently, that the sea has remained on them undisturbed, for a long period. The catastrophe which covered them was, therefore, a great, but transient, inundation of the sea. This inundation did not rise above the high mountains; for we find no analogous deposits covering the bones, nor are the bones themselves there met with, not even in the high valleys, unless in some of the warmer parts of America. These bones are neither rolled nor joined in a skeleton, but scattered, and in part fractured. They have not, then, been brought from afar by inundation, but found by it in places where it has covered them, as might be expected, if the animals to which they belonged had dwelt in these places, and had there successively died. Before this catastrophe, these animals lived, therefore, in the climates in which we now dig up their bones: it was this catastrophe which destroyed them there; and, as we no longer find them, it is evident that it has annihilated those species. The northern parts of the globe, therefore, nourished formerly, species belonging to the genus _elephant_, _hippopotamus_, _rhinoceros_, and _tapir_, as well as to that of the _mastodon_; genera of which the four first have no longer any species existing, except in the torrid zone; and the last, none in any part.”

The researches of Dr. Buckland, connected with the kind of relics of which we are speaking, have given them additional interest, especially as connected with certain points of diluvial geology, and with their assemblage in caverns. In these caverns, the bones are usually found mixed with mud, stones and fragments; and circumstances seem to show that the animals resided in them for a great length of time. The celebrated Kirkdale cavern, in Yorkshire, discovered in 1821, contains the remains of the hyena, tiger, bear, wolf, fox, weasel, elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, horse, ox, deer, hare, rabbit, rat, mouse, raven, pigeon, lark, thrush, and a species of duck. From the mode in which these remains were strewed over the bottom of the cavern, from the great proportion of hyenas’ teeth over those of other animals, and from the manner in which many of the bones were gnawed and fractured, Dr. Buckland infers that this cavern was the den of hyenas for a long succession of years; that they brought in as their prey, the animals whose remains are thus mixed with their own; and that this state of things was suddenly terminated by an irruption of turbid water into the cave, which buried the whole in the mud in which they are now intermingled. In other cases, the bones of other animals have been found, indicating the same general facts as to the existence of animals now no longer known in the same latitudes.

That every part of the dry land was once covered by the ocean, is a fact on which all geologists agree; and the discovery, noticed above, of the fossil remains of many genera of quadrupeds, once existing, but which have now disappeared from the earth, leads to another fact, not less interesting, and which is at the same time coincident with the oldest records or traditions of the human race, namely, that at the period when these great changes took place, man was not an inhabitant of the planet. These fossil remains, now about to be particularized, are among the most surprising of nature’s phenomena, and irresistibly lead to most interesting speculations respecting the past and future condition of the terrestrial globe.

FOSSIL CROCODILES.

The fossil remains of crocodiles have been collected in the neighborhood of Honfleur, on the coast of France, and were found in a bed of hard limestone, of a bluish gray color, which becomes nearly black when wet, and which is found along the shore on both sides of the mouth of the Seine, being in some places covered by the sea, and in others, above its level, even at high water. Remains of crocodiles have also been found in other parts of France; as at Angers and Mans. Some of these remains seem to show, that at least one of the fossil species above noticed is also found in other parts of France besides Honfleur.

The remains of crocodiles have been also found in different parts of England; but particularly on the coast of Dorsetshire, and of Yorkshire near Whitby, in the neighborhood of Bath, and near Newark in Nottinghamshire. Somersetshire, particularly in the neighborhood of Bath, the cliffs on the Dorsetshire, or southern coast, and on the Yorkshire, or northern coast, are the places in this island in which the remains of the animals of this tribe have been chiefly found. The matrix in which they are found is in general similar to that which has been already mentioned as containing the fossils of Honfleur, a blue limestone, becoming almost black when wet. This description exactly agrees with the limestone of Charmouth, Lime, &c., in Dorsetshire, on the opposite coast to that of France on which Honfleur is situated. At Whitby and Scarborough, where these fossils are also found, the stone is indeed somewhat darker than in the former places; but no difference is observable which can be regarded as offering any forcible opposition to the probability of the original identity of this stratum, which is observed on the northern coast of France, on the opposite southern English coast, and at the opposite northern extremity of the island. Some of these remains are also found in quarries of common coarse gray and whitish limestone. Instances of this kind of matrix, for these remains, are observable in the quarries between Bath and Bristol. The Rev. Mr. Hawker, of Woodchester, in Gloucestershire, formerly had in his possession, perhaps one of the handsomest specimens of the remains of the crocodile discovered in all England. It was found by him in the neighborhood of Bath, and contained a great part of the head and of the trunk of the animal.

LARGE FOSSIL ANIMAL OF MAESTRICHT.

The large animal, whose fossil remains are found in the quarries of Maestricht, has been deservedly a frequent object of admiration; and the beautiful appearance which its remains possess, in consequence of their excellent state of preservation, in a matrix which admits of their fair display, has occasioned every specimen of this fossil to be highly valued. The lower jaw of this animal, and some other specimens, which were presented by Dr. Peter Camper to the Royal Society, and which are now in the British museum, are among the most splendid and interesting fossils in existence. In 1770, the workmen having discovered part of an enormous head of an animal imbedded in the solid stone, in one of the subterraneous passages of the mountain, gave information to M. Hoffman, who, with the most zealous assiduity, labored until he had disengaged this astonishing fossil from its matrix. But when this was done, the fruits of his labors were wrested from him by an ecclesiastic, who claimed it as being proprietor of the land over the spot on which it was found. Hoffman defended his right in a court of justice; but through the influence employed against him, he was doomed not only to the loss of this inestimable fossil, but to the payment of heavy law expenses. But in time, justice, though tardy, at last arrived; the troops of the French republic secured this treasure, which was conveyed to the national museum.

The length of the cervical, dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, appears to have been about nine feet five inches, and that of the vertebræ of the tail about ten foot; adding to which the length of the head, which may be reckoned, considering the loss of the intermaxillary bones, at least at four feet, we may safely conclude the whole length of the skeleton of the animal to have approached very nearly to twenty-four feet. The head is a sixth of the whole length of the animal; a proportion approaching very near to that of the crocodile, but differing much from that of the monitor, the head of which animal forms hardly a twelfth part of the whole length. The tail must have been very strong, and its width, at its extremity, must have rendered it a most powerful oar, and have enabled the animal to have opposed the most agitated waters, as has been well remarked by naturalists who have examined it. From this circumstance, and from the other remains which accompany those of this animal, there can be no doubt of its having been an inhabitant of the ocean. Taking all these circumstances into consideration, M. Cuvier concludes, and certainly on fair, if not indisputable grounds, that this animal must have formed an intermediate genus between those animals of the lizard tribe which have an extensive and forked tongue, which include the monitors and the common lizards, and those which have a short tongue and the palate armed with teeth, which comprise the iguanas, marbres, and anolis. This genus, he thinks, could only have been allied to the crocodile by the general characters of the lizards.

FOSSIL REMAINS OF RUMINANTIA.

Among the fossils of the British empire, none are more calculated to excite astonishment than the enormous stags’ horns which have been dug up in different parts of Ireland. Their dimensions, as given by Dr. Molyneux, are as follows.

Feet. Inch. From the extreme tip of each horn, 10 10 From the tip of the right horn to its root, 5 2 From the tip of one of the inner branches to the tip of the opposite branch, 3 7½ The length of one of the palms, within the branches, 2 5 The breadth of the same palm within the branches, 1 10½ The length of the right brow antler, 1 2

A similar pair, found ten feet under ground, in the county of Clare, was presented to Charles II. and placed in the horn-gallery, Hampton Court; but was afterward removed into the guard-room of the same palace. At Ballyward, near Ballyshannon; at Turvey, eight miles from Dublin; and at Portumery, near the river Shannon, in the county of Galway, similar horns have been found. In the common-hall of the Bishop of Armagh’s house, in Dublin, was a forehead, with two amazingly large beams of a pair of this kind of horns, which, from the magnitude of the beams, must have much exceeded in size those of which the dimensions are given above. Dr. Molyneux states, that in the last twenty years, thirty pair of these horns had been dug up by accident in the country: the observations, also, of several other persons, prove the great frequency with which these remains have been found in Ireland. Various opinions have been entertained respecting this animal and its existing prototype. This, however, does not appear to have been yet discovered; and these remains may, therefore, be regarded as having belonged to an animal now extinct.

FOSSIL REMAINS OF ELEPHANTS.

Numerous remains of elephants have been found in Italy; and, although a very considerable number of elephants were brought from Africa into that country, yet the vast extent through which these remains have been found, and the great probability that the Italians, particularly the Romans, would have known enough of the value of ivory, to have prevented them from committing the tusks to the earth, lead to the belief, that by far the greater number of these remains which have been dug up, have been deposited here, not by the hands of man, but by the changes that the surface of this globe has undergone, at very remote periods. The circumstances, indeed, under which many of these have been found, afford indubitable proof of this fact.

In France, where it is well known that living elephants have been much less frequent, at least in times of which we have any record, than either in Italy or Greece, their fossil remains have been found in a great number of places, and in situations which prove their deposition at a very remote period. The whole valley through which the Rhine passes, yields fragments of this animal, and perhaps more numerously on the side of Germany than on that of France. Not only in its course, but in the alluvia of the several streams which empty themselves into it, are these fossil remains also found. Thus Holland abounds with them, and even the most elevated parts of the Batavian kingdom are not exempt from them. Germany and Switzerland appear particularly to abound in these wonderful relics. The greater number found in these parts, is, perhaps, as is observed by M. Cuvier, not attributable to their greater abundance, but to the number of well-informed men, capable of making the necessary researches, and of reporting the interesting facts they discover. As in the banks of the Rhine, so in those of the Danube, these fossils abound. In the valley of Altmuhl is a grand deposit of these remains. The bones which have been found at Krembs, in Sweden; at Baden, near Vienna; in Moravia; in different parts of Hungary and of Transylvania; at the foot of the Hartz; in Hesse; at Hildesheim—all appear to be referable to this animal. So also are those which are found on the Elbe, the Oder, and the Vistula. Different parts of the British empire are not less productive of these remains. In London, Brentford, Harwich, Norwich, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Salisbury, and, indeed, in several other parts of Great Britain, different remains of these animals have been found. When we add to those places which have been already enumerated, Scandinavia, Norway, Iceland, Russia, Siberia, Tunis, parts of North America, and Ibarra, in the northern part of Equador, it will appear that there is hardly a part in the known world, whose subterranean productions are known to us, in which these animal remains have not been discovered. M. Cuvier is satisfied, from the actual comparison of several skulls of the East-Indian and African elephants, that different specific characters exist in them respectively. In the Indian elephant, the top of the skull is raised in a kind of double pyramid; but in the African it is nearly rounded. In the Indian the forehead is concave, and in the African it is rather convex. Several other differences exist, not necessary to be here

## particularized, which seem to be fully sufficient to mark a difference

of species. A cursory view is sufficient to enable us to determine that the ordinary fossil teeth of elephants are not those of the African species, and it may be further said, that the greater number of these teeth bear a close resemblance to those of the East-Indian species, showing, on their masticating surface, bands of an equal thickness through their whole length, and rudely crenulated. So great, indeed, is the resemblance, that Pallas, and most other writers, have considered the fossil elephant as being of the same species with the Asiatic. M. Cuvier, anxious to discover the degree of accordance of the fossil elephant’s skeleton with that of the living species, compared the fossil skull, found in Siberia by Messerschmidt, with those of the African and Asiatic elephants. The result of his comparison was, that in the fossil species the alveoli of the tusks are much longer; the zygomatic arch is of a different figure; the post-orbital apophysis of the frontal bone is longer, more pointed, and more crooked; and the tubercle of the os lachrymalis is considerably larger, and more projecting. To these peculiarities of the fossil skull, M. Cuvier thinks, may be added the parallelism of the molares. Comparing together the bones of the Asiatic and of the African elephant, he was able to discover some differences between them, as well as between those and some of the fossil bones which he possessed. These latter he found, in general, approached nearest to those of the Asiatic elephant. He concludes with supposing that the fossil remains are of a species differing more widely from the Asiatic elephant than the horse does from the ass, and therefore does not think it impossible but that it might have existed in a climate that would have destroyed the elephant of India.

It may, therefore, be assumed as certain, from the observations of M. Cuvier, that at least one species of elephants has existed, of which none are now known to be living; and, should the difference of structure which has been pointed out in some of the fossil teeth, be admitted as sufficient to designate a difference of species, it may be then said, that there exist the fossil remains of, at least, two species of elephants, which were different from those with which we are acquainted. From the preceding observations it appears, then, that the fossil elephantine remains, notwithstanding their resemblance in some respects to the bones of the Asiatic elephant, have belonged to one or more species, different from those which are now known. This circumstance agrees with the facts of the fossil remains of the tapir and rhinoceros, which appear to have differed materially from the living animals of the same genera. The remains of elephants obtained from Essex, Middlesex, Kent, and other parts of England, confirm the observation of Cuvier, that these remains are generally found in the looser and more superficial parts of the earth, and most frequently in the alluvia which fill the bottoms of the valleys, or which border the beds of rivers. They are generally found mingled with the bones of other quadrupeds of known genera, such as those of the rhinoceros, ox, horse, &c., and frequently, also, with the remains of marine animals.

FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE MASTODON.

We now come to the examination of one of the most stupendous animals known, either in a recent or a fossil state; one which, whether we contemplate its original mode of existence, or the period at which it lived, can not but fill our minds with astonishment. The first traces of this animal are sketched in a letter from Dr. Mather, of Boston, to Dr. Woodward, in 1712, and are transcribed from a work in manuscript, entitled _Biblia Americana_. In this work, teeth and bones of prodigious size, supposed to be human, are said to have been found near what is now Albany, in the state of New York. About the year 1740, numerous similar bones were found in Kentucky, on the Ohio, and were dispersed among the European virtuosi. Many bones of this animal were found, in 1799, in the state of New York, in a large plain, bounded on every side by immense mountains, in the vicinity of Newburg, situated on the Hudson or North river. These remains have also been found on the side of the Alleghany mountains, in the interior parts of Pennsylvania and Carolina, and in New Jersey, not far from Philadelphia. And quite lately (1854) the tusks of a mastodon, apparently of enormous size, were discovered protruding from the inclined side of a marshy declivity, a few miles from the city of Poughkeepsie. Measures were immediately taken to excavate the place and exhume the skeleton. We are informed that the work thus far has been remarkably successful, and the condition of the skeleton such as to promise the security of the most perfect specimen of the mastodon ever found. The location is extremely favorable. The excavation, which is prosecuted under the direction of Professor Morse, the discoverer of the magnetic telegraph, who resides at Poughkeepsie, has succeeded as far as the head and shoulders of the mammoth. The bones are partially petrified as far as the exhumation has extended, and this promises the recovery of the entire skeleton in a more perfect state than any yet discovered. If our information is correct, and it emanates from an entirely responsible source, an object of great interest will be added to the science and study of natural history.

From a careful attendance to every circumstance, M. Cuvier conceives we have a right to conclude, that this great mastodon, or animal of the Ohio, did not surpass the elephant in hight, but was a little longer in proportion, its limbs rather thicker, and its belly smaller. It seems to have very much resembled the elephant in its tusks, and, indeed, in the whole of its osteology; and it also appears to have had a trunk. But, notwithstanding its resemblance to the elephant, in so many particulars, the form and structure of the grinders are sufficiently different from those of the elephant, to demand its being placed in a distinct genus. From the later discoveries respecting this animal, M. Cuvier is also inclined to suppose that its food must have been similar to that of the hippopotamus and the boar, but preferring the roots and fleshy parts of vegetables; in the search of which species of food it would, of course, be led to such soft and marshy spots as it appears to have inhabited. It does not, however, appear to have been at all formed for swimming, or for living much in the waters, like the hippopotamus, but rather seems to have been entirely a terrestrial animal.

FOSSIL REMAINS OF THE RHINOCEROS.