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82 MR. A. L, ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF 
The complete state of ossification of fig. 3, as compared with very much larger astra- 
gals of recent species, shows that it was the matured bone of an elephant evidently not 
much over 3 feet in height. 
CALCANEUM.—There are two types or forms, in three specimens, two of which are 
precisely alike, whilst a third is slightly larger and differs from them in the following:— 
A Type.—P\. XVI. fig. 4 represents a right calcaneum with the greater portion of 
the astragaloid and the entire cuboid and peroneal facets denuded. It is an old bone, 
however, the epiphyses being completely consolidated. As none of the articular surfaces 
are preserved, there is little to add to the admeasurements given in fig. 4. The height is 
3 inches; total length about 4°6 inches. The peculiarity, as distinguished from the other 
two and also the same bone in the Asiatic and Mammoth, is the broader upper surface of 
the heel, which, in this respect, assimilates to the African and E. meridionalis ; but there 
isa Mammoth’s calcaneum in the Beechey collection, British Museum, like the last. 
As to the curving or ‘“‘ saddle-back” of the heel, this would seem to be more decided 
in the three Maltese specimens than in any of the recent, where, however, ordinarily it is 
well developed, excepting in one massive heel-bone of E. meridionalis, where the upper 
surface is quite straight. From an inspection of numerous recent and fossil calcaneums, I 
find the groove in the front tuberosity for the tendon of the tibialis is always pronounced 
in old bones, and scarcely developed in young heel-bones of individuals of recent species 
much larger in dimensions than any of the Maltese elephants, which is, of course, another 
indication of the specimens in question having belonged to full-grown individuals. 
As regards the dimensions of the owner of fig. 4—although doubtless it belonged 
to an adult, and, as compared with recent species, to one of the height of that assigned 
to the rather small tibia Pl. XV. fig. 38, with which it was associated in Mnaidra Gap, 
this individual probably did not exceed 6 feet in height, consequently might stand as a 
small-sized male or ordinary female of perhaps the largest form. 
B Type.—1. The calcaneum Pl. XVI. fig. 5 (right limb), and a less perfect specimen of 
the opposite foot were both discovered in Benghisa Gap, in conjunction with other bones, 
including the lunare and cuneiform, P]. X VIII. figs. 4 & 9; all are doubtless referable to 
the smaller Elephant. The epiphyses are completely consolidated, and the bone uninjured, 
with the exception of the loss of a portion of the internal astragaloid facet. As just 
observed, it displays the narrow upper surface of the heel of the Indian and Mammoth 
so pointedly as to at once distinguish it from the last. Here the interosseous pit, as in 
the Maltese astragals, is broader about the middle than in, at all events, any recent bones 
Ihave seen. Again, the cuboidal facet is apparently more extensive in the fossil, stretch- 
ing across the bone, and is not so oval, which peculiarity agrees with the opposing 
surface of the cuboid, as will be shown presently. The saddle-shaped heel seems to 
be more decided in this instance than in the last specimen, and to as great an extent as 
in the Indian, the arc of the circle being fully 0:7 inch*. The peroneal facet is also 
* This might, like the large articular facets of the other foot-bones to be noticed in the sequel, have added to 
the activity of the animal; a high heel would throw more weight on the anterior portion of the foot. 
