Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-09-10
POCKET ELEPHANTS.
A Collection of Pfgmies-Horses rs Large


A Collection OF Pig mies-Horses rs Large
Foxes, Etc
How is that for an elephant" said
an artist, taking green cloth from q
clay model of an elephant about twelve
inches in length. Eyes, it is SMALL"
he continued, ..but that's just the great
point in its favor. See this bone" he
continued, taking up small object
from a table-.the real bone of the
elephant am making a model OF. 1t
was the famous recently discovered
p1gmy elephant of Europe. Some
months ago party of French geolo-
glsts. rambling through Italy, came
upon great quantities of these bones,
and soon ident fed them as those of a
race of elephants that were pocket edi-
tons, so to speak. The largest were
not as large as our sheep. and in the
adult form. or old age, much smaller
than any of the baby elephants that
have been exhibited in this country
Their young in turn were elephants in
miniature, being about as large as
small cat, and could easily have been
held upon the open palm. Herds of
these pigmies were undoubtedly cap
tured by early man. and if the
circus was in existence then.
we can imagine rare entertain
ment. What troupe of elephants
could have been marshalled in! First
would appear the great Mammoth,
with its long coat of hair; then the
Dinotherium, with its incurved tusks;
the gigantic Gangesa, from India, with
its head and enormous tusks. extend
ing fourteen feet in front, and finally.
last but not least. the pigmies and their
young. arousing the enthusiasm of
the throng of young cave-dwellers.
The gmies. as far as known. rep
resented two distinct species, known
to science as Elephas melittensis and
F. falconeri. and their remains are
found over wide geographical area,
showing that they had an extended
range In the second book of the
.Hneid' Virgil notes tradition to the
effect that Sicily was at one time y
part of the mainland, and it is now be-
ievei b. many that long ago Italy was
connected with Africa by neck of
land and that Malta and other places.
now islands. were part of it.
Over this ancient bridge the pigmy
elephants are supposed to have made
their way into Europe, where their
tracks can be traced in many locali-
ties. In Malta most of the skeletons
have been found. while others have
been discovered in various parts of
Italy. and among other remains in
MANY parts of Europe. These were real
pismies, while the so-called dwarf ele-
plants of to-day are merely elephants
whose growth has been retarded in
some natural or artificial manner.
The pigmies. however, were not all
elephants, as at this time pigmy horses
roamed the slopes and valleys of North
America. They were the ancestors of
our present horse, and their remains
have been found in such quantities that
more than twenty different kinds have
been recognized. The smallest of these
pigmy horses was about as large as
fox. and differed considerably from our
present horse. 1t lived in what has
been termed the Eocene time, and is
called the Eohippus. Instead of walk
ing on the tip of single toe or hoof.
as does the horse of to-day, it had four
wel-dereloped toes and a rudimentary
fifth. In a later bed of this
same time is found the Orohip-
pus-a pfgmy horse with four perfect
toes in front and three behind. A
great many ages later, in beds OF