EVOLUTION OF THE ELEPHANT LULL, 671 



Java. Elephas later traveled in two directions, westward back to 

 Europe and Africa, and eastward, thousands of miles, into the United 

 States. 



Evidence seems to point to an interesting parallelism in evolution 

 between the American elephants and those of Europe, though they 

 were undoubtedly derived from a common ancestry. 



THE TRUE ELEPHANTS. 



[See chart 3.] 



Disregarding for the j)resent the hairy mammoth, E. jjrimigenius, 

 two notable types are found in Europe during Pliocene and Pleisto- 

 cene times. Of these the more ancient is Elephas memdionalis, 

 probably derived from Stegodon insignis of India and undoubtedly 

 the migratory species over the Persia-Asia Minor route which the 

 remote ancestors traveled in their journey to the East. 



Elephas mei'idionalis ranges from the Red Crag (Upper Pliocene) 

 to the Lower Pleistocene Forest Beds and from England on the north 

 to Algeria on the south, though never gaining a permanent foothold 

 in Africa. E. ineridionalts is succeeded by E. antiquus, a great form 

 with straight tusks, whose geological range is from the Forest Beds 

 to the Upper Pleistocene. E. antiquus is found in England, central 

 Europe, as far east as the region lying north of the Black Sea. In a 

 southerly direction one can trace the course of migration through 

 Italy, Malta, Sicily, north Africa, and across the present strait of 

 Gibraltar to southern Spain, w^here specimens have been found at 

 Europa Point and at Seville. Evidently the Pyrenees proved too 

 great a barrier for a direct migration into Spain, though the invasion 

 was accomplished through this circuitous route. In the islands of 

 Sicily and Malta are found relics of this southern march of E. 

 antiqvus, not only remains of the normal species, but of its curiously 

 dwarfed descendants, Elephas m/taidriensis, E. melitensis^ and 

 E. falconeH^ the last only 3 feet high. These types developed 

 through degeneracy after the migration had passed and the line of 

 communication was cut off, leaving Sicily and Malta as small islands. 

 The limited area, scanty food, and general hard conditions were 

 responsible for the dwarfing, precisely as the Shetland ponies have 

 lost the original stature of Equus cahallus. In the Maltese elephants 

 the diminution in size brings the animal helow the stature of the 

 ancestral Mo3ritherium, though in no other way is it an atavistic 

 type. Dwarf forms are also found in Crete and Cyprus. 



An early form of Elephas antiquus evidently gave rise to the 

 modern African elephant through the type known as Elej)has priseiis, 

 included by some authorities in E. antiquus itself. The develop- 

 ment of teeth of E. africanus with relatively few lozenge-shaped 



