The head is covered
by a helmet of bony plates, and the trunk was defended by an
armour of almost hexagonal bony pieces united by sutures, and
exhibiting special patterns of sculpturing in each species. The
tail was also defended by a similar armour, and the vertebrae were
mostly fused together so as to form a cylindrical bony rod. In
addition to the above-mentioned forms, a number of other Edentate
animals have been discovered by the researches of M. Lund in
the Post-Pliocene deposits of the Brazilian bone-caves. Amongst
these are true Ant-eaters, Armadillos, and Sloths, many of them
of gigantic size, and all specifically or generically distinct
from existing forms.
Passing over the aquatic orders of the _Sirenians_ and _Cetaceans_,
we come next to the great group of the Hoofed Quadrupeds, the
remains of which are very abundant in Post-Pliocene deposits both
in Europe and North America. Amongst the Odd-toed Ungulates the
most important are the Rhinoceroses, of which three species are
known to have existed in Europe during the Post-Pliocene period.
Two of these are the well-known Pliocene forms, the _Rhinoceros
Etruscus_ and the _R. Megarhinus_ still surviving in diminished
numbers; but the most famous is the _Rhinoceros tichorhinus_
(fig. 263), or so-called "Woolly Rhinoceros." This species is
known not only by innumerable bones, but also by a carcass, at
the time of its discovery complete, which was found embedded in
the frozen soil of Siberia towards the close of last century,
and which was partly saved from destruction by the exertions of
the naturalist Pallas.
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