THEEE EXTINCT SPECIES OF ELEPHANT. 255 



5, 6. Humerus. 



Of this bone the collection affords several well-marked specimens, two of which are repre- 

 sented in PI. XLIX. One ofthese(fig. 26) is amongst the most perfect and instructive of all 

 the bones collected in the Zebbug Cavern. It is a nearly complete left humerus, wanting 

 only the proximal epiphysis and great part of the internal condyle with the correspomiing 

 part of the shaft above it. The upper epiphysial surface, however, remains perfect and 

 wholly uninjured; so that we may conclude that the capitular epiphysis was naturally de- 

 tached. The fractured surface at the inner condyle appears to be recent ; and the bone 

 has been broken obliquely across the shaft, and through the condyloid extremity 

 probably at the same time ; but the fragments having been carefully united, the integrity 

 of the bone is very satisfactorily restored, with the exceptions above indicated. 



Although the upper epiphysis was not united, there is no trace whatever remaining of 

 the line of junction of the lower epiphysis, not even on the exposed fractured surface. 

 Nor is there a trace left of the non-ossification of the epiphysial cartilage on the supinator 

 ridge, which is late in becoming completed in the Elephant ; we may conclude, conse- 

 quently, that the animal to which the bone belonged had nearly, if not quite, reached 

 its full maturity and stature. And the maturity of its age, at any rate, may also be 

 inferred from the deep and strong muscular impressions, and from the density and 

 weight &c. of the bone generally. The specimen, as it is, measures 9 inches in length — 

 that is to say, from the highest point of the upper epiphysial surface to the lowest 

 point on the condyloid extremity. But from its vai'ious dimensions, which will be found 

 in the Table, its length when entire may be estimated at about 12 inches, which would 

 give a height of about -3 feet to the Elephant to which it belonged. According to the 

 same data I estimate the antero-posterior diameter of the head at 2"-2, which is exactly 

 proportionate also to the length of the head in E. melitensis, when that dimension is 

 measured in relation to the antero-posterior diameter of the upper epiphysial surface. 

 As the part which is wanting in the present specimen is precisely that of which we have 

 so excellent an example in the upper extremity of the humerus of H. melitensis (fig. 22), 



rosity ; and, 4th, the form of the acromial end of the spine, which, so far as I know, is always hooked over, as it 

 were. This peculiarity in the Maltese scapula is shown in the subjoined figure, in which the spine is repre- 

 sented in a vertical position. 



