terrestrial globe.* This elephant must have existed in
Mexico; and Cuvier,! judging from a fragment of a tusk,
thinks it even extended to the neighbourhood of Quito in
South America. In the latter country three species of Mastodon
have been discovered. One of these, M. angustidens, is
common to Europe. It is singular that its remains, as yet,
have never been brought from North America ; nevertheless,
considering that it was a contemporary of the extinct
animals above mentioned, it seems highly probable that it
arrived by the same line of communication on the N.W.
coast. As its remains have frequently been found at a great
elevation in the Cordillera, perhaps its habits led it to
follow that chain of mountains from north to south.
After these facts, it is only in conformity with what we
might almost have expected, that the horse, belonging to the
same order of Pachydermata, should formerly have inhabited
both North and South America. It is interesting thus to discover
an epoch anterior to the division, as far at least as two
important orders among the mammalia are concerned, of the
continent into two separate zoological provinces. The
geologist who believes in considerable oscillations of level in
the crust of the globe within recent periods, will not fear to
speculate either on the elevation of the Mexican platform,
as a cause of the distinction, or on the submergence of land
in the AVest Indian seas,—a circumstance which is perhaps
indicated by the zoology of those islands.!
* I m ay o b se rv e t b a t a t th e p r e s e n t d a y b o tb sp e cie s o f e le p h a n ts h a v e
w id e r an g e s . T h e A fric a n o n e is fo u n d from th e S en eg a l to th e C a p e o f
G o o d H o p e , a d is ta n c e o f a b o u t 3 0 0 0 m ile s. T h e A s ia tic k in d fo rm e rly
b a d a n e q u a l ran g e , n am e ly , from th e b a n k s o f th e I n d u s to th e E a s t
I n d ia n I s le s . T h e h ip p o p o tam u s is b e lie v e d to h a v e re a c h e d from th e
C a p e to E g y p t.
t Os sem en s F o ssile s, v o l. 1., p . 158. C u v ie r says h e c a n n o t d e c id e
p o s itiv e ly , n o t h a v in g se en a m o la r to o th .
! D r . R ic h a rd so n (R e p o r t fo r 1836, to B r it. Assoc,, p . 157) says, “ th e
s p o tte d cavy {ccslogenys), a n d p e rh a p s a sp e cie s o f cavia, a n d o n e dasy-
procta, e x te n d from S o u th A m e ric a to th e W e s t In d ie s a n d M e x ic o .”
C u v ie r says th e K in k a jo ii is fo u n d in th e la rg e r A n tille s , b u t o th e rs
The number of bones embedded in the grand estuary
deposit of the Pampas must he very great; I myself heard
of, and saw many groups. The names of such places as “ the
stream of the animal,” “ the hill of the giant,” tell the same
story. At other times I heard of the marvellous property of
certain rivers, which had the power of changing small bones
into large; or as some maintained, the bones themselves
grew. As far as I am aware, not one of these animals, as
was formerly supposed, perished in the marshes, or muddy
river-beds of the present land, but their bones have been
exposed by the streams intersecting the deposit in which
their remains were formerly buried. AVe may therefore
conclude that the whole area of the Pampas is one wide
sepulchre for these extinct quadrupeds.
AA'^hile travelling through the country, I received several
vivid descriptions of the effect of a great drought; and the account
of this may throw some light on the cases, where vast
numbers of animals of all kinds, have been embedded together.
The period included between the years 1827 and
1830 is called the “ gran seco” or the great drought. During
this time, so little rain fell, that the vegetation, even to the
thistles, failed; the brooks were dried up, and the whole
country assumed the appearance of a dusty high-road.
This was especially the case in the northern part of the
province of Buenos Ayres, and the southern part of St. Fe.
Very gTeat numbers of birds, wild animals, cattle, and horses,
perished from the want of food and water. A man told me,
that the deer* used to come into his courtyard to the well,
affirm t h a t th is is a n e rro r ; a c co rd in g to M . G e rv a is , th e Didetptiis crau-
crivora in iia b its th e A n tiiie s . A to o th o f t h e M a s to d o n h a s b e e n b ro u g h t
from B a h am a ( E d . N ew P h i l. J o u rn a l , J u ly , 1826, p . 3 9 5 ) . W e c a n n o t,
h ow ev e r, from tliis c o n c lu d e , tli a t th e M a s to d o n fo rm e rly in h a b ite d th o se
islan d s, fo r tlie c arcass m ig h t h a v e b e e n flo a ted th e r e . S om e m am m a lia
c e rta in ly a r e p e c u lia r to th e A rc h ip e la g o .
* I n C a p t. O w e n ’s S u rv e y in g V o y ag e (v o l. ii., p . 2 7 4 ) th e r e is a c u rio u s a c c
o u n t o f th e effects o f a d ro u g h t o n th e e le p h a n ts , a t B e n g iie la (w e s t co a st
o f A fric a ). “ A n um b e r o f tlie se a n im a ls h a d s om e tim e s in c e e n te r e d th e
l ii ilji