398 THE AGE OF MAMMALS 



The southern elephant ^ is Falconer's ' Preglacial variety of the 

 mammoth ' ; it belongs to the same group as the true maimnoth (E. 

 trogontherii, E. primigenius) and the Columbian mammoth (E. columbi) 

 of America. It is distinguished both from the African {Loxodonla) and 

 from the Indian {Euelephas) types of elephants by its peculiarly flattened 

 forehead and peaked cranium. It was taller than the true mammoth (E. 

 primigenius) which only appears in late Pleistocene times. The tusks were 

 shorter and less bent. We may infer from its original sub-tropical habitat 

 that it was hairless. In tooth and skull structure it resembled E. hysu- 

 driciis of the Siwaliks of India. 



Two distinct stages of southern elephant are known, the more primitive 

 of which has very low, broad teeth, with thick enamel. The other more 

 progressive stage has dental plates of thinner enamel; this type occurs in 

 the Forest Bed, at Durfort, and in the upper deposits of the Val d'Arno; 

 it is said to be the original type of Nesti, who founded the species. There 

 were thus two grand phyla of elephants evolving in northern and southern 

 Europe at this time, the one {E. meridionalis, E. trogontherii) with remote 

 resemblances to the Indian, the other (E. antiquus) with resemblances to 

 the African elephants of recent times. 



The straight-tusked elephant (E. antiquus) does not occur in the north 

 at this time, but is found in the Arno valley of Italy, where it is associated 

 with a fauna of almost tropical character, including the southern mammoth 

 and the hippopotamus. The typical E. antiquus is recognized by its nar- 

 row, elongated grinding teeth with comparatively few plates,^ which, com- 

 bined with its skull characters, suggest its affinity to the modern African 

 {Loxodonta) rather than to the Indian elephant {Euelephas) group. While 

 in the first, or Norfolk, interglacial period it is confined to Italy, in subsequent 

 interglacial times it wandered into northern Europe as one of the grandest 

 and most distinctive forms, attaining a very wide distribution. Pohlig cer- 

 tainly overestimates its size ^ in assigning to it a height of 5 m. at the back 

 (16 ft. 8 in.), or 1 m. more than the mammoth, and with tusks also 5 m. in 

 length. In consequence of the size and weight of the tusks, the head, 

 shoulders, and fore legs were enormously developed. The same writer 

 believes that the habitat of this mammoth retreated and advanced with the 

 successive ice waves and warm interglacial times. 



The diminutive elephants of the Mediterranean islands were the dwarfed 

 descendants of these straight-tusked elephants. The researches of Miss 

 Bate ^ confirm the relationship to E. antiquus of these pigmy forms, which 



^ Pohlig, H., Eiszeit und Urgeschichte des Menschen. Leipzig, 1907, p. 120. 



* Pohlig, H., Dentition und Kranologie des Elephas antiquus Falc. mit Beitragen liber 

 Elephas primigenius Blum, and Elephas meridionalis Nesti. Nov. Act. Ksl. Leop-Carol. Deutsch. 

 Akad. Naturforscher, Vol. LIH, no. 1. Halle, 1888. 



^ Pohlig, H., Eiszeit und Urgeschichte des Menschen. Leipzig, 1907. 



* Bate, D. M. A., On Elephant Remains from Crete, with Description of Elephas creticus 

 sp. n. Proc. ZoSl. Soc. London, Aug. 1, 1907, pp. 238-250. 



