ELEPHANT. 



633 



which Mr. Corse describes as cutting the gum a little earlier than 

 the lower one, has the anterior single digital process or mammilla, 

 and the posterior talon developed into a fifth plate smaller than the 

 fourth with which its middle part is confluent: the neck of this 

 tooth is shorter, and the two fangs are shorter, larger, and more 

 compressed than those of the lower first molar. (1) This tooth is 

 the analogue of the first deciduous molar in other Ungulates : it 

 is not a mere miniature of the great molars of the mature animal, 

 but retains, agreeably with the period of life at which it is developed, 

 a character much more nearly approaching that of the ordinary 

 Pachydermal molar, manifesting the adherence to the more general 

 type by the minor complexity of the crown, and by the form and 

 relative size of the fangs. In the transverse divisions of the crown 

 is indicated the affinity to the Tapiroid type, the diflferent links con- 

 necting which with the typical Elephants are supplied by the extinct 

 Lophiodons, Dinotheriums, and Mastodons. The sub-division of the 

 summits of the primary plates recalls the character of the molars, 

 especially the smaller ones, of the Phacochere in the Hog-tribe. As 

 the Elephant advances in age the molars rapidly acquire their more 

 special and complex character. 



The first molar is completely in place and in full use at 

 three months, and is shed when the Elephant is about two 

 years old. 



The sudden increase and rapid development of the second molar, 

 (PI. 146, fig. 3, m 2), may account for the non-existence of any 

 vertical successor or ' premolar', in the Elephant. The eight or nine 

 plates of the crown are formed in the closed alveolus, behind the 

 first molar by the time this cuts the gum, and they are united with 

 the body of the tooth, and most of them in use, when the first molar is 

 shed. The average length of the second molar is two inches and a 

 half; ranging from two inches to two inches and nine lines. The 

 greatest breadth, which is behind the middle of the tooth, is from 



(1) This molar is represented, one third the natural size, by M. de Blainville in his 

 ' Osteographie des Elephans,' PI. vii, as being divided into four plates, with anterior or poste- 

 rior tubercles. 



