THREE EXTINCT SPECIES OF ELEPHANT. 237 
towards the Indian type. In order to make this plain, it will be as well to point out 
one or two of the differences which exist in this part of the skeleton between the two 
existing species. In the first place, as above remarked, the inner and posterior angle of 
the neck in the African Elephant descends evenly till it is lost, below the level of the 
dental foramen, in the general surface of the ramus; at most it exhibits, in older 
animals, a slight roughness about the level of the dental foramen. But in tie Indian 
Elephant, of all ages, this border or angle, at about the level of that foramen pro- 
jects into a distinct sort of crochet, which, as it were, protects the dental foramen from 
behind. 
This striking difference of form, seen on viewing the ascending ramus of the mandible, 
between the Indian and African species, is shown in the accompanying woodcuts *, 
The tr. d. of the neck at the smallest part, as compared with that of the condyle, 
is rather less in the African than in the Indian species. In two specimens in which 
the comparison was made, the tr. d. of the head in the Indian Elephant was 4", 
and that of the neck 1"-9; whilst in the African the head was 3'-7 in tr. d., and the 
neck 1-5. In general form also, a considerable difference may be remarked. Viewed 
laterally, the ascending ramus in the African Elephant is more rounded than in the 
Indian, in which it is comparatively straight in the vertical direction. The coronoid 
process rises much higher, in fact nearly to the level of the condyle, in the Indian 
Elephant; and its anterior border is nearly vertical, which in the African overhangs 
very much, and is at the same time much thicker and rougher, whilst it descends very 
rapidly from the condyle to a level considerably below it. A striking difference is also 
seen in the configuration of the dental foramen. In the Indian Elephant this orifice 
looks, as it were, directly upwards, owing to the distinct elevation of the inner border, 
which forms, in fact, a sort of spine or projection opposite to the posterior crochet 
above described, the border of the opening between these two points being interrupted 
by a deep angular notch. In the African Elephant the dental foramen, which is pro- 
* A. EB. indicus. B. E. africanus. 
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