1^48 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



eluded) are diverging branches of a common stock 

 intimately connected with the above-mentioned 

 extinct animals of North America, although it unfor- 

 tunately happens that the connection between the 

 primitive elephants and the pigs is still a missing 

 link. That the remains of such an animal will, 

 however, turn up some day or other, the writer is 

 fully convinced, and he ventures to predict that, 

 when it does, it will be found to possess a long 

 muzzle, with front teeth still more projecting than in 

 the hippopotamus, and a proboscis somewhat like 

 that of the tapir. It will have, moreover, grinding- 

 teeth not unlike those of the pig, but of rather more 

 complex structure, and with a tendency for the 

 earlier ones to wear out before the hindmost have 

 come into use. That in this respect there is but a step 

 from the pigs to this hypothetical animal is indicated 

 by the circumstance that there is a nearer approach 

 to this condition in the teeth of certain African pigs, 

 than in those of any other existing animal. 



Curiously enough, there are some very remarkable 

 indications of an affinity between the elephants and 

 the gnawing animals (porcupines, squirrels, &c.), 

 and it thus seems probable that the primitive hoofed 

 animals and the primitive gnawing animals were 

 related ; but the closeness of this relation it is at 

 present impossible to indicate. 



Finally, it may be asked,'in what respects have the 

 existing elephants gained an advantage over their 

 primitive ancestors, so that the former remain while 

 the latter have perished. Firstly and foremostly, the 

 elephant of to-day has gained enormously by the elabo- 

 rate structure and great size of hisgrinding-teeth, which 

 take an immense time to wear out, and consequently 

 permit of his attaining the great age — sometimes as 

 much as 150 years — to which he reaches. The simple 

 and low-crowned grinders of the primitive elephants 

 must, on the other hand, have worn out at a much 

 earlier period ; and the term of existence of their 

 owners must perforce have been limited at the out- 

 side to something like forty or fifty years, or about 

 twenty years more than the life of the hippopotamus, 

 which has still simpler teeth. The modern elephants 

 have probably also gained an advantage in the more 

 perfect development of their proboscis, and in the loss 

 of their lower tusks and the shortening of their jaws, 

 which has enabled them to make more effective use 

 of that marvellous organ. The elaborate structure of 

 their grinding-teethhas, moreover, doubtless pro- 

 duced more perfect mastication of their food, and has 

 thereby conduced to that remarkable longevity in 

 which they exceed all other animals. 



Whether the Indian elephant has attained the 

 extreme of perfection to which it was possible for 

 such a type of organization to reach, or whether, 

 had he been unimpeded by the advent of man, he 

 would have advanced still higher in the scale, is a 

 question which, however interesting, can never be 

 ■solved. That the long course of evolution which we 



have traced above is already at an end, is certain ; 

 and that the day is not far distant when the last 

 member in the wondrous chain shall have disappeared 

 for ever, is tolerably evident to those who have 

 watched how fast our larger quadrupeds are vanishing 

 before the advancing strides of civilization. 



OPHIOGLOSSVM VULGATUM, VAR. 

 AMBIGUUM. 



By William Roberts. 



THIS exceedingly interesting little adder's-tongue 

 was discovered at Scilly about twenty years 

 ago by Mr. F. Townsend, who described it in the 

 "Journal of Botany " as being the same as a form 

 noticed in " Flore des Environs de Paris," 2nd ed. 

 p. 577. Mr. Townsend first published it as occurring 



^1 l:^ ^ ,S-;--^ .'^•>^' 



\ 



\ 



Fig- -]! .—Ophiogloss7itii V7ilgatum, var. ambigiium. 



in St. Agnes, but Mr. Ralph informs me that both 

 himself and Messrs. Curnow and Tellam searched for 

 it there but in vain. To Mr. Curnow belongs the 

 honour of discovering it in plenty, and extending over 

 a considerable space of ground at intervals at the 

 neighbouring isle of St. Martin's. This pretty 

 addition to the British Cryptogamic flora rarely grows 

 more than an inch and a half high, and has ovate or 

 ovate-lanceolate barren fronds which are channelled, 

 recurved, and attenuated below ; whilst the fertile 

 frond produces from twelve to twenty capsules or 

 spore cases. 



As arranged by Baker, the genus Ophioglossum, 

 inclusive of the Ophioderma of Endl. and Rhizo- 

 glossum of Presl, contains ten species ; but many 



