266 : ME. BUSK ON THE REMAINS OF 



infratrochanteric fossa, the existence of which, so for as I am aware, is peculiar to E. 

 falconen. On the posterior aspect the hase of the trochanter major, or rather the 

 posterior and external angle of the shaft going to it, is very much more elevated, as is 

 also the surface of the bone on the inner side of this face. The central part, consequently, 

 just below the level of the lowest point of the digital fossa, is much more concave in 

 E. falconeri. In fact, the most cursory inspection of these two portions of the femur is 

 sufficient to demonstrate the extreme difference between them. It will have been ob- 

 served that in some particulars the femur of E. falconeri exhibits African tendencies, 

 which is a curious circumstance when we remember the numerous instances, in other 

 parts of the skeleton, in which the contrary tendency would seem to be manifested. 



With respect to the dimensions of the entire femur, as deduced from those of the 

 fragment, and from the length of what I regard as the corresponding humerus, its length 

 may probably be taken at about 13" or 14", and the diameter of the head in the fully 

 mature animal at about 1"'8, or 2". The latter dimension is less than would accord 

 with the size of the acetabulum in the portion of pelvis here referred to the same 

 species, which demands a head of about 2" in diameter at least; and I am able to 

 explain the apparent discrepancy only on the ground, either that the proportion of the size 

 of the head to that of the shaft was rather greater than usual in E. falconeri, or, as is 

 perhaps more probable, that the pelvis in question belonged to an older and larger in- 

 dividual of the same species. But the fact that the comparative size of the head in 

 proportion to the length of the shaft varies very greatly, not altogether in accordance 

 with age, is apparent in the circumstance that, if we deduce the size of the head in 

 E. falconeri from the proportions exhibited in the femur of Chuny, it would be about 

 l"-9 ; whilst if we take the proportions in a somewhat younger, but very much smaller, 

 Sumatran Elephant in the British Museum, it would be only 1"'5, and, from those of 

 a Ceylon Elephant also in the British Museum, l"-7, and, from those of the African, 

 l"-6. And these examples have been selected as being, I believe, those of animals 

 as nearly as possible (except the Sumatran) of the same age, or with the dentition in 

 nearly the same stage — that is to say, with the three molars in wear. In all of them the 

 femoral and many of the other epiphyses are still not united. Upon full consideration, 

 therefore, I think it not unsafe to conclude that the apparent discrepancy between 

 the size of the acetabulum and the computed size of the head of the femur represented 

 in fig. 30 is not greater than may be looked for withhi the limits of one and the same 

 species. 



A second instance of the femur of E. falconeri is that represented in figs. 29 & 29 a. 

 It consists of the entii-e shaft of the left femur with both epiphyses detached ; and it 

 is also, from its taper form and all its other characters, manifestly that of a very young 

 animal. On the anterior aspect the great concavity on the outer side, immediately 

 below the base of the trochanter, at once marks the peculiarity of the bone and its re- 

 semblance to the older femur last described. On the same aspect is seen the nutrient 



