272 MR. BUSK ON THE REMAINS OF 
Capt. Spratt’s collection, as to the presence in it of the remains of three distinct species 
of Elephant, I will proceed to inquire what confirmation of the plurality of species is 
added from the study of the remains of the very young (or, perhaps, in some cases, of 
absolutely foetal) animals. 
The number of these immature bones is very remarkable; and many (although neces- 
sarily of very fragile texture) are in excellent preservation, though the majority are more 
or less worn or otherwise injured. 
In noticing the largest species of the Maltese Elephants, I have already described a 
very young exoccipital bone (figs. 3 & 4), and a portion of the shaft of a femur, 
obviously that of a very young animal, and which may have belonged to the same indi- 
vidual. Besides these juvenile remains of the large Elephant, there are several other 
fragments apparently referrible to the same species, though of much younger age. As 
the mere size of these specimens is sufficient to distinguish them from the remains of 
either of the dwarf species, it will be unnecessary perhaps to enter into further par- 
ticulars concerning them, beyond what have already been given. 
With respect to the immature bones of the two smaller Elephants, however, it will 
be requisite to go into some detail, in order to point out what I conceive to be dis- 
tinctive specific characters in them, although I do not pretend at present to be able to 
assign the different forms to the respective species with any approach to certainty. 
1. Bones of the Cranium and Face. 
Of the cranial bones the only ones sufficiently perfect to be of much use in the 
inquiry are three or four exoccipitals, two of which are represented in Pl. LIT. figs. 49!, 
49! a, and 44, 44 a. These two bones are of the same size, and, to all appearance, of 
exactly the same age. Each is also broken precisely to the same extent, having lost 
the posterior angle, including the whole of the thickened border which joins the supra- 
occipital *. In all other respects the bones are entire and but very little worn, especially 
that shown in fig. 42’. One belongs to the right, and the other to the left side; but 
they are obviously not a pair; and it is curious that the collection also affords a third 
exoccipital belonging to the left side, not so perfect as either of those which have been 
figured, but sufficiently so to prove that it has exactly the same characters as fig. 42’, 
We have thus, from these bones alone, evidence of the presence in the ossiferous cave 
of Zebbug of three very young Pigmy Elephants. In general dimensions, as has been 
said, the two exoccipitals very closely agree, the principal difference remarkable between 
them being that fig. 42'} is rather higher, as it may be termed, in proportion to its an- 
tero-posterior diameter than fig. 44. The exact antero-posterior width cannot be positively ° 
given, owing to the imperfect condition of the bones; but as the posterior part of each 
* The fact is, that both are broken across the weakest part of the bone. 
+ To save words, as I am unwilling to employ a specific name, I use the Nos.*of the figures to designate the 
two bones. 
