Lign. 263. Teeth of Fossil Horse: nat. size.
Pleistocene. England.
| Fig. | 1.— | Right lower canine tooth of young Equus plicidens; from the Cave at Oreston (Owen’s Foss. Mam. p. 394). |
| 2.— | Upper molar of a fossil Horse; from the Elephant-bed of Brighton Cliffs. |
In the Siwalik hills, collocated with the gigantic pachydermata, ruminants, and carnivora, the remains of two or more species of Horse have been discovered. One form (Hippotherium) is remarkably distinguished from any previously known by the extreme length and slenderness of its I legs, in which respect it must have closely resembled the Antelope; it did not surpass in size the common Deer.
IV. Fossil Edentata. Petrif. p. 476.—The remains of extinct colossal mammalia, related to the existing diminutive Sloths in the essential characters of their organization, but modified to suit the peculiar conditions in which they were placed and the enormous increase in bulk of their colossal frames, are strewn all over the vast area of those alluvial plains of South America, called the Pampas (Wond. p. 164). The deposits of these regions[747] consist of—1. Beds of clay, sand, and limestone, containing marine shells and teeth of sharks; these are the lowermost strata. 2. Indurated marl. 3. Red clayey earth with calcareous concretions, in which the bones of colossal terrestrial mammalia are abundant. This vertical section demonstrates, that an extensive bay of salt-water was gradually encroached upon, and at length converted into a muddy estuary, by detritus brought down from the interior of the country, and in which carcases of land-animals floated and ultimately became engulphed in the silt. It is in these last deposits, which now form the immediate subsoil of the Pampas, that the teeth of the Megatherium, Mylodon, Glyptodon, Mastodon, Horse, &c. have been found.[748]
[747] See "Buenos Ayres," &c., by Sir Woodbine Parish, 1852, pp. 209-223.
[748] See the charming volume entitled, "Journal of the Voyage of H. M. S. Beagle," by Charles Darwin, Esq; see also Prof. Owen’s descriptions in the "Zoology of the Beagle," and his Report, laid before the British Association in 1847.
The Megatherium (Petrif. p. 478, [Lign. 112], 113; Wond. p. 167; Bd. p. 139, and pl. v.) is the best known to the general reader, from the graphic exposition of its configuration and habits by Dr. Buckland, and the splendid remains of its skeleton presented to the Hunterian Museum by Sir Woodbine Parish; but this animal is only one of several species of Edentata, equally interesting, and almost rivalling it in magnitude, which the labours of our own naturalists, Sir W. Parish, Mr. Darwin, and Mr. Pentland, and of Dr. Lund and other foreign savants, have brought to light. I can only advert to two other genera, namely, the Glyptodon and Mylodon.[749]