. The ancient life-history of the earth; a comprehensive outline of the principles and leading facts of palaeontological science. Paleontology. 320 HISTORICAL PALEONTOLOGY. early as the Miocene period, the first of them being exclusively confined to deposits of this age. Of the three, the genus Deiiiotheriwn is much the most abnormal in its characters; so much so, that good authorities regard it as really being one of the Sea-cows {Sirenia)—though this view has been rendered untenable by the discovery of limb-bones which can hardly belong to any other animal, and which are distinctly Probosci-
. The ancient life-history of the earth; a comprehensive outline of the principles and leading facts of palaeontological science. Paleontology. 320 HISTORICAL PALEONTOLOGY. early as the Miocene period, the first of them being exclusively confined to deposits of this age. Of the three, the genus Deiiiotheriwn is much the most abnormal in its characters; so much so, that good authorities regard it as really being one of the Sea-cows {Sirenia)—though this view has been rendered untenable by the discovery of limb-bones which can hardly belong to any other animal, and which are distinctly Probosci- dean in type. The most celebrated skull of the Deinothere (fig. 246) is one which was exhumed from the Upper Miocene deposits of Epplesheim, in Hesse- Darmstadt, in the year 1836. This skull was four and a half feet in length, and indicated an animal larger than any existing species of Elephant. The upper jaw is destitute of incisor or canine teeth, but is furnished on each side with five molars, which ? are opposed to a corresponding series of grinding teeth in the lower jaw. No canines are pre- sent in the lower jaw; but the front portion of the jaw is ab- Fig. 246. —Skull of DeinotJierium ruptly bent dowuwards, and car- giganteujn, greatly reduced. From • ^ , ^ i ti • • the Upper Miocene of Germany. TICS tWO hugC tUSk-llkc mClSOF teeth, which are curved down- wards and backwards, and the use of which is rather proble- matical. Not only does the Deinothere occur in Europe, but remains belonging to this genus have also been detected in the Siwalik Hills, in India. The true Elephants {Elephas) do not appear to have ex- isted during the Miocene period in Europe, but several species have been detected in the Upper Miocene deposits of the Siwalik Hills, in India. The fossil forms, though in all cases specifically, and in some cases even sub-generically, distinct, agree with those now in existence in the general conformation of their skeleton, and in the principal charac
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