ON MALTESE FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 185 



Concluding Report on the Maltese Fossil Elephants. 

 By A. Leith Adams, M.B., F.R.S., F.G.S. 



It is with mucli pleasure I have to announce to the members of the Asso- 

 ciation that my labours in connexion with the fossil elephants of Malta havo 

 been completed. 



It is now thirteen years since these researches were begun ; and although 

 frequently interrupted by other engagements, the importance of the subject 

 has all along stimulated me to make every sacrifice within my power in 

 order to accomplish a work of so much scientific interest. The monograph 

 descriptive of the elephantine remains discovered by me was read at the con- 

 cluding meeting of the Zoological Society of London in June last, and will 

 appear in due course in the Transactions of the Society. 



It is illustrated by a mapand 21 Quarto plates. In mySecondReportinl866, 

 drawn up immediately after the termination of my explorations, I was dis- 

 posed towards an opinion that the exuviae I had brought together represented 

 only one form of Elephant, distinct from any known member of the genus, 

 and somewhat under the ordinary dimensions of the living species. Subse- 

 quent examinations, however, showed, in addition, that there were good 

 indications of the presence of the two dwarf elephants previously determined 

 by Dr. Falconer and Mr. Busk, from the collection made by Capt. Spratt in the 

 Zebbug Cave in Malta in the year 1859. 



Ist. With reference to the largest species. This is represented in my col- 

 lections by nearly the entire dentition and many bones of an elephant which 

 varied in height between 6| and 7 feet. The last figure, however, represents 

 the maximum proportions as far as I have been enabled to determine from 

 my own specimens and from all other remains hitherto discovered in the 

 island. It is apparent, therefore, that the largest Maltese fossil elephant 

 was, comparatively speaking, a small animal. The dental specimens I have 

 assigned to this species are very numerous, and for the most part perfect. 

 They represent every stage of growth, from the first to the last, showing what 

 appears to me an unbroken series of molars which display the progressive 

 succession of ridges characteristic of the subgenus Loxodon, and are therefore 

 allied to the existing African elephant, from which, however, they differ not 

 only in relative dimensions, but also in well-marked specific characters. 



The ridge-formulae of the deciduous and true molars of this species seem 

 to me to stand thus * : — 



Milk-Molars. True Molars. 



X 3 x: X 6 X : X 8-9 X : : x 8-9 x : x 10 x : x 12-13 x. 



From these figures it will be apparent that the nearest alliance as regards 

 the ridge-formula would be to the gigantic Loxodon meridionalis, whilst the 

 crown sculpturing of the molars resemble the same in Elephas antiquus ; but 

 they do not agree in further particulars with other species excepting the 

 Elephas melitensis, to which I will refer presently. With reference to the 

 skeleton generally, the majority of the characters of the long bones are more 

 in keeping with the African than the Asiatic elephant. 



The presence of this larger species of elephant, in conjunction with the 

 dwarf forms, was pointed out by Dr. Falconer, and subsequently by Mr. 

 Busk ; but their specimens were much too fragmentary to allow of specific 

 determination, a want, however, which is amply supplied by the materials 

 collected by me. 



* X stands for talons. 



