VIII.] PANGOLINS. 283 



Plistocene of the Narbada Valley in central India there occurs a 

 species (E. namadicus] closely allied to the contemporary Euro- 

 pean E. antiqims, in both of which the molars are intermediate in 

 structure between those of the living Indian and African species. 

 Elephas planifrons of the Siwaliks, which has molars of a still more 

 generalised type, is equally closely allied to E. meridionalis of the 

 upper Pliocene of Europe; and it is quite probable that the 

 former may be the original ancestral stock of the African elephant. 

 It is worth mentioning that the stegodont elephants survived till 

 the Plistocene ; and also that some of the species of this group 

 inhabiting India, as well as certain mastodons, ranged as far east- 

 wards as Java, Borneo, China, and Japan. 



FlG. 65. WHITE-BELLIED PANGOLIN (Manis tricuspis). 



The last mammals that we have to mention are the pangolins 

 (Mamdcz), which are now common to the Oriental and Ethiopian 

 regions, and appear to be represented by an extinct genus in the 

 European upper Oligocene. The presence of horny scales in- 

 vesting the whole of the body and tail serves to distinguish the 



