THE MALTESE FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 37 
to a full-grown individual. As compared with recent species it shows measurements 
slightly less than that of an Asiatic Elephant, with the last milk and first true molar in 
wear. I shall now proceed to describe the maxille of the molars just referred to; but 
beforehand, by way of comparison between the same points in recent species, it may be 
stated that the lower maxilla in the Asiatic and African Elephants appears to differ in 
the following particulars :— 
1. Commencing at the condyle, we find a decided neck in the Asiatic, whereas in the 
African the slope is continuous more or less to the angle without any sudden constriction 
at the condyle. 
2. The outline between the angle and condyle bulges out, or is more convex, in the 
Asiatic than in the African, where the margin is narrower; so that, if a line be drawn 
transversely near the base of the coronoid process, it will furnish a relatively greater 
breadth in the former. 
3. The rostrum is more pointed in the African, and the chin and upper jaw are more 
produced, whilst the diasteme, from being nearly perpendicular in the Asiatic, is at a 
much lower angle in the African. 
4. The coronoid generally is more erect in the African, whilst it is higher, and its 
apex overhangs more or less in the Asiatic, forming a concave anterior border. This, 
however, is not constant, as demonstrated by the specimen No. 2846 of the lower jaw 
of an African Elephant in the Royal College of Surgeons. 
5. The dental foramen is larger and more gaping in the Asiatic, and opens out just 
under the condyle, whilst it is situated lower down in the African. 
6. The mentary foramina are usually two in the African, and situated just below the 
front of the tooth in wear, and invariably at some distance from the border of the dia- 
steme, near which they are placed in the Asiatic. 
7. The symphysial gutter is generally more open and shallow in the African than in 
the Asiatic or in the Mammoth. 
The only entire portion of the brain-case is a left exoccipital from Benghisa Gap. It 
is almost. if not quite, identical in size, and has also many characters in common with 
one described by Busk'. Its dimensions are:—extreme height 2 inches; breadth at 
the constricted part above the condyle 1-1 inch; condyloid articular facet 1 by 0:4 inch; 
surface of the ex-basioccipital synchondrosis 0°6 by 0:4 inch. The cerebellar fossa 
is very concave, with no well-marked hollow for the lateral sinus. The opening of the 
paramastoid cells is seemingly not so large as in the Zebbug specimen, and is separated 
from the cerebellar fossa by a ridge which slopes gradually, not abruptly as in the 
Zebbug bone. The posterior aspect is flat, especially internally. The margin of the 
jugular sulcus is very sharp, above which is the thickest part of the bone, it being 
0-4 inch. The surface close behind the edge of the jugular sulcus is even, as in the 
other, and the ex-basioccipital synchondrosis projects well in front. With scarcely an 
? Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi. p. 272, pl. 52. fig. 42’. 
