246 Dr. H. Woodward — On Cave Hunting. 



come into use, the edging of enamel is in the form of a series of 

 rings owing to the digitation of the plates. These are later worn 

 into a single band surrounding the enclosed area of dentine. 



" In the Maltese specimens it is not uncommon to find the encircling 

 enamel persisting thus divided for a considerable time. Even four 

 or five ridges may remain in this condition at one time in a single 

 tooth, with perhaps an anteriorly decreasing number of rings. This 

 is well shown in a tooth, now in the British Museum collection, 

 doubtfully ascribed by Mr. Busk' to the first upper true molar of 

 JE. Falconeri. This is not so much the case in the Cyprus specimens, 

 in which the bands of enamel only remain thus separated into 

 several annuli for a very short while after the plate comes into wear. 



" The molars vary considerably, some specimens having very broad 

 crowns, while others are somewhat narrow. The bands of cement 

 are wide, in perhaps the majority of cases almost, or quite, equalling 

 in width the plates of dentine ; this seems to be the exception and 

 not the rule in the molars of E. melitensis. 



" Taking into consideration the several characters in which the teeth 

 of the Cyprus elephant differ from those of all the hitherto described 

 dwarf species (putting on one side E. lamarmorce ^ from the Pleistocene 

 of Sardinia, the teeth of which are unknown to science) as well as 

 the distinct habitat of the animal, I have come to the conclusion that 

 it is specifically distinct from these other small forms, though possibly 

 they were derived from a common ancestor, and I therefore propose 

 to name it Elephas Cypriotes. 



" The discovery of the remains of this pigmy elephant, as well as 

 of Hippopotamus minutus, in Cyprus, is interesting in comparison with 

 the dwarf species from Malta and Sicily, and because the presence of 

 an extinct mammalian fauna in this locality had not previously been 

 recorded. The occurrence of these different, though apparently closely 

 related, races of small elephants in widely separated islands of the 

 Mediterranean, lends probability to the theory that this is a case of 

 independent development along similar lines, the result of similar 

 circumstances and environments. Nevertheless, it would perhaps be 

 wise not to take it for granted, without further evidence, that this 

 diminutive size is wholly and entirely due to specialisation." (Proc. 

 Eoyal Society, May 7, 1903, pp. 498-500.) 



Miss Dorothy Bate hopes to be able to communicate a more detailed 

 account, with figures and full descriptions, of the collection of 

 elephant remains from Cyprus. We also learn that she will shortly 

 read a note upon a new species of extinct Genet from Cyprus at the 

 Zoological Society of London. 



It is to be hoped that this is but the commencement of a very 

 successful scientific career for the author, who has evidently given 

 her best energies to this most interesting and attractive line of 

 investigation. 



1 Zool. Soc. Traus., vol. \i, p. 295, pi. liii, fig. 9. 



2 Dr. Forpytli Major, " Die Tyrrheiiis ": Kosmos, toI. vii (1883), p. 7. 



