284 ME. BUSK ON THE REMAINS OP 



admitting the convictions which the specimens forwarded by Captain Spratt forced upon 

 me when I first examined them. 



, " 1. Milk-incisors. — The series fortunately includes a very perfect milk-incisor, which 

 confirms the line of specific affinities indicated by the molars. The specimen is repre- 

 sented of the natural size by figs. 1 & 1 a, 1 5. It differs from the permanent tusk in 

 having the crown and fang portions distinctly defined. The crown forms an obtuse, 

 flattened, rounded, and irregularly indented body, invested with a thick shell of enamel, 

 supported in a long cylindro-conical fang, part of which is broken off" near the end. 

 From the diameter of the broken end and of the central canal, it is manifest that at 

 least a third of the entire length of the fang is wanting. The specimen was compared 

 with the corresponding tooth of a foetal African Elephant, belonging to a skull trans- 

 mitted to the British Museum by Dr. Livingstone, in which the milk-molars are quite 

 unworn. The two agree very closely in the dilated blunt form of the crown, investing 

 shell of enamel, and defined fang. The chief difference detected between them was in 

 the form of the latter, which in the young African Elephant forms a rather short and 

 compressed cone, terminating in a sharp and slender point, while in the Zebbug fossil 

 the fang is stouter, more cylindrical, and much more elongated. The dimensions of the 

 specimen are : — 



Entire length l"-4 



Length of crown 0"-6 



Width of crown 0"-4 



Thickness of crown 0"- 3 



Diameter at the collar 0"-3 



Diameter at broken end 0"'25 



" These minutiae are given, and in such detail, in order to mark the affinity which the 

 Malta fossil bears throughout in its dentition to the African Elephant. A shell of enamel 

 has not yet, so far as I am aware, been detected on the milk-incisors of any species of 

 the subgenus Euelephas. It occurs on those of the African species ; and I have detected 

 it forming a sheath upon the young permanent tusks of E. insignis, belonging to the 

 group Stegodon*. 



* In the British Museum, besides the foetal African Elephant referred to by Dr. Falconer, there are nume- 

 rous bones of another, very much smaller and obviously a very young uterine foetus ; outUne figures of some of 

 the bones belonging to this sjjeeimen have been given in a preceding part of this paper. Among its remains is 

 the milk-incisor in the germ state ; that is to say, the fang is still incomplete, and the enamel cap probably very 

 thin. The milk-incisor of the older foetus alluded to by Dr. Falconer is completely formed, and presents a dif- 

 ferent appearance, owing to the increased thickness of the cap, which appears to be formed of two lavers, an 

 external (probably of osteine), and an interior (the enamel). The fang comes to a fine point ; and when the upper 

 portion of the cap (which is quite loose) is removed, the ivory nucleus of the croi\'n, of nearly the same size and 

 form as the crown of the uterine tooth, is exposed. The entire length of the tooth is l"-8, and the greatest 

 diameter of the crown about 0"-45, and its length about 0"-6. The tooth, therefore, would seem to correspond 



