EVOLUTION OF ELEPHANTS 381
parts
of South America, especially along the western side, from Colombia to
Argentina.* So far as is known they are all of Pleistocene or late
Pliocene age, and more or less nearly related to the Miocene and
Pliocene genera of North America. Mammoths and elephants appear rarely,
if ever, to have penetrated into South America; nor apparently did M. ameri-canus ever reach that country. Early discoveries sent to Europe were described under the names of Mastodon hum-boldti and M. andium, and thought to be related to Mastodon, now Trilophodon, angustidens of
Europe. Later discoveries! show that there were several different
types in South America, but probably all of them may be referred to the
genus Dibelodon ( = Stegomastodon).
The only species of Elephantidœ, remains of which have been found in Uruguay, South America, is the Mastodon Humboldti (Cuvier),
bones of which have been discovered at Mercedes in Uruguay, situated on
the Rio Negro, about fifteen miles from its entrance into the Rio de la
Plata. The mammoth is unknown in South America, but of the species Elephas columbi (Falconer) remains are said to have been found in Colombia, and they also appear in Mexico.J
There
appears to be some evidence that the ivory capping of a mastodon molar
was found in 1880 in Mexico, as in that year the Jefe Politico of
Progreso, Yucatan, Mexico, showed such an object to Dr. Edward· H.
Thompson as having been given to him during a recent visit to Vera
Cruz. However, no definite information was obtainable as to the exact
locality from which the tooth fragment had been brought, so that it was
not possible to make a search for
•Communicated by Dr. W. B. Matthew.
fFlorentino
Ameghino, 1889, "Mamiferos Fosiles de la Republica Argentina," Actas
Acad. Nacional "Ciencias" Cordoba, Vol. VI, pp. 682-652.
ÎCommunicated by M. A. Lamme, Director of the Institute de Geologia y Perfora-ciones, Montevideo, Uruguay, S A.
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