THE MALTESE FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 111 
molars maintain the long narrow crown, so apparent in the lower molars of the pre- 
ceding teeth I have referred to this type’, and represent an Elephant of about the 
dimensions assigned by Busk and Falconer to the 2. melitensis ; whilst the largest point 
towards one of the small varieties of recent species, in no instance purporting to be over 
7 feet in height. 
In correlating all the data in connexion with the last true molar, I have formed an 
opinion opposed to that of the late Dr. Falconer, as to the position of the upper tooth 
he considered to be the last of the series of 2. melitensis’, and am disposed to place it 
with the penultimate true molar of the same species. This, however, is not of much 
importance, seeing that facts, apparently indisputable, are patent, by which we are 
enabled to confirm the previous evidence of the same small species, and show thereby 
that its last true molar was only a little larger than the above’. 
The evidence between what are designated thin- and thick-plated molars, when applied 
to.the penultimate and ultimate teeth, is not of much value specifically, seeing, from 
what has been recorded in the introduction, that such conditions are common to the above 
stages of growth in more than one well-known species. It is to be observed, however, 
with reference to the thin-plated last true molars just referred to, that in the 
Zebbug collection and my own there are specimens of thick- and thin-plated varieties 
in a diminutive elephant*. It is clear, moreover, that Dr. Falconer did not con- 
sider the above a barrier to his belief in the specificity of teeth otherwise equal, from 
the fact that he correlated a thin- and thick-plated molar’ as being the last of the series 
of H. melitensis. Under these circumstances one might be inclined to regard the 
thick plates as only an individual distinction. Considering, however, the smallest last 
molars collectively, they do represent an elephant varying from what may be called 
pygmy dimensions up to an animal nearly 5 feet in height. The incomplete condition of 
the thick-plated molars® of the above prevents the determination of their ridge-formule 
satisfactorily, whereas the thin-ridged tooth displays twelve plates and two talons’. 
The largest form displays precisely the same characters as regards thickness of plates 
as just observed with reference to the smallest; and unfortunately there is the same 
dubiousness in regard to the ridge-formula of its thick-plated sort®. It is different, 
however, with the thinner-plated type’, of which there are several perfect specimens, 
showing that the ridge-formula was ordinarily composed of twelve plates and two talons. 
* Compare Pl. V. fig. 1 with fig. 2, Pl. VIII. fig. 5, Pl. IV. fig. 3, and the Zebbug tooth in Trans. Zool. Soc. 
vi. pl. 53. fig. 5. 
? Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. p, 296, and Paleont. Mem. vol. ii. pl. xi. figs. 1 & 2. 
3 Compare Pl, IV. fig. 1 with Paleont. Mem. vol. ii. pl. xi. fig. 1. 
* Pl. IX. fig. 1, and Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. pl. 53. fig. 11. 
* He considered pl. xi. fig. 1 of Palwont. Mem. the last upper molar, and Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi. pl. 53. 
fig. 11 the last lower tooth of the same species. ° Pl. IX. figs. 1 & 2. 
7 Pl. VI. figs. 1 & la. ® Compare Pl. VIII. fig. 7 with Pl. VII. fig. 1 or 2. 
® Pl. VIL. fig. 1. 
