rc 
THE MALTESE FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 65 
be 13 inches in length, the above would be much too large; and if we allow femur 
Pl. XIV. fig. 3 a length of 22 inches, the proportion would be in excess on the side of 
the femur. 
The femur and fibula of the Oxford-University and King’s-College Museum specimens 
are 21 & 10 inches respectively; so that the maximum femur of L. falconeri, being 
given at 13 inches, would in proportion allow of only 6 inches to its fibula; and seeing 
that neither of the former was quite 4 feet, I am inclined to think Mr. Busk’s estimate 
may be low for the femur of this pygmy, which, however, may have had shorter thigh- 
and leg-bones in proportion, just as I have pointed out in the tibia of the large form. 
Patella. 
A Series—1. Four specimens referable to the larger form were discovered in Mnaidra 
and Gandia, and one belonging to the pon form in Benghisa Gap. With reference 
to the former, the patella Pl. XV. fig. 8 ‘is of the left side; the maximum breadth of 
its inner facet is 1-8 inch, and of the outer 1°3, the greatest thickness being 2:2. 
2. Another of the same side is more oval in outline; its length is 3-7 inches, breadth 
of inner facet 1:6, and outer 1-4, the greatest thickness being 2. Both these and a 
third in the University of Malta, from Gandia Fissure, as compared with any of the 
femurs above described, seem to represent animals equivalent to the owners of the 
largest bones in my collection, ¢. ¢. to an elephant fully 7 feet in height. As compared 
with that of the Sumatran (British Museum), they are rather larger, seeing that its 
patella is 3°6 inches in length, the outer facet being 1-3, and inner 1°65. 
3. The right and left femurs (Pl. XIV. figs. 1 & 2) had their patelle evidently attached 
when deposited in Mnaidra Gap, seeing that between the condyles and the heads of 
their tibie there lay two patelle, of which the right is shown in Pl. XV. fig. 7, and 
displays the same sharpness of the outer border as compared with the thickening of the 
internal, and thus characteristic of the last described, whilst the left, like fig. 8, is oblong. 
Its articular facets show, the outer 1-2 inch in breadth, and the inner 1°5, thickness 1-9, 
which are about the dimensions of the patella of the elephant in Guy’s-Hospital 
Museum and in the Netley Hospital, both representing the adolescent stage and indi- 
viduals about 6:5 feet at the shoulder. I am aware that this comparison does not tally 
with the relative lengths of the respective femurs; but the data furnished seem to show 
that the large Maltese form had altogether shorter and stouter extremities than, at all 
events, the Asiatic species. 
B Series.—The perfect little patella fig. 6 being found so close to femur Pl. XIV. 
fig. 3, in Benghisa Gap, and being also of the right limb, renders it highly probable 
that they belonged to the same animal. The breadth of its external facet is 0°8 inch, 
and internal 1:1, thickness 1-4. 
The characters of the patella in the two recent species are not different; but, as far 
as materials extend, it would appear that the bone is relatively broader in the African. 
VOL. 1X.—PARTI. November, 1874. K 
