202 ' PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [aNNO 1715. 



anatomy, p. 40, speaking of the teeth, he assures, that there were besides the 

 tusks, only 4 teeth in each jaw, two in every side: and that these 8 teeth were 

 all molares, so that he had no incisores. 



This letter of Mr. Nevile, with Dr. Molineux's curious draughts of the teeth, 

 and his learned remarks upon them, having been produced and read before the 

 Royal Society, they then ordered that what teeth they had of like sort should 

 be looked out and laid before them ; to which Sir Hans Sloane was pleased to 

 furnish a yet greater variety, out of his incomparable collection of natural rari- 

 ties. And to obviate all doubts, there being at this time in Westminster the 

 entire skull of a large elephant with the teeth in it, it was likewise ordered 

 to be viewed and compared with the figures : which done, it appeared that the 

 teeth in question could be no other than those of an elephant. 



By this inquiry we were likewise satisfied, that the number of teeth found, 

 being but 4, was no objection: it appearing that the number of molares in this 

 animal is not certain. Pliny, lib. 11, cap. 37, says expressly dentes elephanto 

 intus ad mandendum quatuor, prajter eos qui prominent. And in the remains 

 of that mighty elephant described by Tenzelius, Phil. Trans. N°234, there were 

 no more than 4 teeth found. In that at Westminster there are 6, viz. one in 

 each lower jaw, and two in each of the upper, whereof the inner tooth is about 

 three times as long as the other, and both together longer than those of the 

 under jaw by about an inch ; the upper small teeth being much worn by grind- 

 ing. These we have thought fit to represent by fig. 17, showing the rough 

 grinding surface of the left under tooth, being considerably concave ; and lig. 

 18, the same roughness on the upper teeth is shown, having a convexity 

 answering to the concavity of the under, which is a circumstance not observed 

 by any of those that have described them. 



And although by the observation of Mr. Du Verney, Dr. Moulins, and Mr. 

 Blair, who dissected three different elephants, it appears that each of them had 

 8 molares; yet from them it is also evident, that in the division of them nature 

 observes no rule. For Dr. Moulins found the two teeth in each of the upper 

 jaws of that he dissected, to be divided after a different manner ; so that the 

 inner tooth on the one side, and the outer on the other, was larger than its ad- 

 joining fellow, yet not so as to be very unequal : and Mr. Du Verney and Mr. 

 Blair had on both sides the much greater tooth outwards ; whereas the West- 

 minster skull, on the contrary, has only a small one outwards, and the much 

 greater grinder within. All which considered, we may with assurance conclude, 

 that this elephant found in Ireland had but four teeth in his head when he died ; 

 and that the two greater were those of the upper jaws, and the other two those 

 of the under. 



