40 



ELEPHANTS. 



columns tend to fuse into laminae while the central column 

 remains for a time distinct and more or less circular in section 

 (see fig. 27) ; in E. antiquus the lateral columns tend to remain 

 annular, while the medials unite into a lamella (fig. 28). 



Returning to the Indian series, the next stage may be taken 

 as represented by Elephas hysudricus (Pier-case 33) , in which 

 there is a considerable increase in the height of the teeth and 

 in the number of the ridges. The skull is in many respects 

 similar to that of E. maximus (E. indicus), the modern Indian 

 elephant, which may have been its direct descendant. E. hysu- 

 dricus, like E. meridionalis, sometimes attained a very large 

 size. This species occurs at the end of the Pliocene and 



Fisr. 28. 



Grinding-surface of second lower molar of Elephas antiquus from the 

 Pleistocene of Grays, Essex. nat. size. 



perhaps in the early Pleistocene beds of the Narbada. Con- 

 temporary with it was E. antiquus (fig. 28) (Pier-case 33 ; 

 Table-cases 19, 19 A), an elephant found in the late Pliocene and 

 early Pleistocene of Europe. This species, in which the molar 

 teeth are relatively small and tusks nearly straight, sometimes- 

 attained a gigantic size. A skeleton recently found at Upnor, 

 near Rochester (Pier-case 31), indicates an animal standing 

 about fifteen feet high at the shoulder, the humerus being 

 4 ft. 4 in. long (1/322 meters), a foot longer than the humerus.' 

 of an African Elephant said to have been lift. 4 in. high at 

 the shoulder. A variety of this species, E. antiquus recki from 

 East Africa, likewise attained a gigantic size. E. zulu from 

 Zululand is probably a related form. In India E. antiquus is 



