Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/281

 MASTODON" tusks, and folds of enamel more complicated than in the teeth of M. giganteus. M. Andium (Cuv.), a smaller species, considered by D'Or- bigny the same as the last, had the same undu- lating folds of enamel, but a more elongated symphysis. The distinction between the M. longirostris (Kaup) and the M. angustidens (Cuv.) of Europe is not well made out, and authors differ exceedingly as to the limits of these species. The division of Pomel seems as probable as any ; he describes as M. longirostris (or Arvernensis, Or. and Job.) those having a lengthened -lower jaw, four ridges in the third, fourth, and fifth teeth, five and sometimes six in the ultimate molar, tusks in the lower jaw, and a vertical upper premolar ; the M. angus- tidens he limits to the Italian species, with the same narrow teeth and four ridges in the three penultimate molars, with no beak to the lower jaw as in M. longirostris, or short truncated gutter as in M. giganteus, but with a long horizontal semi-canal slightly inclined down- ward. The bones, according to De Blainville, resemble more those of the Asiatic elephant than the American mastodon. Dr. Falconer, on the contrary, considers the M. angustidens and longirostris as perfectly distinct, and the former as more nearly related by a three-ridged penultimate molar to the M. giganteus than to the M. longirostris, placing the first two in the section trilophodon (with three ridges), and the last with the Asiatic species in the section tetralopJiodon (with four ridges to the third, fourth, and fifth molars). The famous Dusino mastodon (M. Turinensis), discovered near Turin in 1849 in a fluvio-lacustrine de- posit, described by Prof. Sismonda, whose de- scription is partially reproduced with a figure in Dr. Warren's work, belonged to the M. angustidens ; in the same deposit were found remains of elephants and other large pachy- derms. Pomel's other species, less clearly made out, are M. Cuvieri, with a prolonged lower jaw and the three penultimate molars with three ridges; M. tapiroides, with tuber- culated teeth, forming a connecting link with those of the dinotherium (both of the last are found in central and southern France, the M. longirostris having been found in central Ger- many, at Eppelsheim); and the M. Buffonis, with short thick teeth, to which he refers the Siberian specimens. The age of the European mastodons was earlier than that of the Ameri- can, their remains having been found as low as the miocene, and probably long anterior to the elephant, which was a contemporary of the American mastodon ; according to Pomel, M. angustidens is found with M. Buffonis in pliocene, and M. Cumeri and tapiroides in miocene lacustrine deposits ; but at Turin bones of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopotamus, and tapir were found with the Dusino specimen, so that the fossil elephant of the old world would seem to have been anterior to that of the new. Pictet describes also M. brevirostris (Gervais), from the pliocene of the south of France, with MASUDI 269 the lower jaw short as in elephants, the lower tusks not at all or slightly developed, and the molars as in M. longirostris, with secondary tubercles between the ridges ; he mentions other species as found in the pliocene of Puy and Auvergne. Two species found in Asia may be mentioned here in conclusion the M. Sivalensis (Falc. and Cautl.), from the Sivalik hills, and the M. latidens (Clift), from the banks of the Irrawaddy; in the former the teeth are very large, the ultimate molars being from 8 to 9J by 3 to 3$- in., with six ridges in the upper jaw, rounded mammilla, and rather narrow form ; in the latter the form is broader, and the teeth sometimes with as many as ten ridges, and seemingly one of the links con- necting mastodon with elephant ; these belong to the section tetralophodon. The specific name of tetracaulodon given by Dr. Godman to some mastodon specimens, from their hav- ing two tusks in the lower jaw, is now gen- erally admitted to be ill-founded ; lower tusks are found in young males of many species, and sometimes one or both in the adult male, their presence being probably a sexual and not a specific character. Dr. Leidy and others have indicated several species of mastodon in Kansas and Nebraska, and other newly explored re- gions of North America; these are described in the " Proceedings " of the Philadelphia acad- emy of natural sciences. Several specimens have been found near Cohoes and Ithaca, N. Y., and recent explorations have indicated their presence in all the middle, northern, and west- ern states. According to Owen, the masto- dons were elephants with molars less complex in structure and adapted for coarser vegetable food, ranging in time from the miocene to the upper pliocene, and in space throughout the tropical and temperate latitudes. The transi- tion from the mastodon to the elephant type of dentition is very gradual. MASTODONSAFRUS. See LABYKINTHODOST. MASUDI, AbnI-Hasan All ben Husein ben All, an Arabian scholar, born in Bagdad about 890, died probably in Cairo in 956. He belonged to a family illustrious from the time of Mo- hammed. From childhood he exhibited re- markable talents and fondness for study, and attained a universality of erudition which has been equalled by no other Arab. On some important questions he expressed ingenious and novel views, which were in advance of his successors for several centuries. Not content with the information contained in books, he undertook several long journeys. About 914 he visited the ancient Persepolis, and passed thence to India, Ceylon, the coast of China, Madagascar, and southern Arabia, and explored the region of the Caspian sea. About 926 he was in Palestine, and he subse- quently dwelt in Syria and in Egypt. He says he travelled so far to the east that he forgot the west, and so far to the west that he for- got the east. His most important work is the AMbar al-zeman, or "History of the Times,"