286 ME. BUSK ON THE EEMAINS OP 



" 3. Lower Milk-molars. — Fig. 2 and fig. 2 a, represent, of tire natural size, the ante- 

 penultimate milk-molar (m.-m. 2) of a very young animal, and, I believe, the smallest 

 EleiDhantine molar, fossil or recent, that has hitherto been met with, figured, or described. 

 The outline of the crown is broad oval, being narrow in front and wide behind. It is 

 ccniposed of tliree coUines, with a posterior talon. It is clear that the tooth did not 

 belong to a foetal individual, as the crown exhibits the most distinct proof of having 

 been in use, and worn against an opposed tooth. Further, the posterior talon bears 

 a well-marked disk of pressure, from the contact of an advancing tooth behind it. The 

 disks of wear of the crown surface are broad, but not much advanced in wear. One 

 large elongated and conical fang only remains, connected with the anterior and middle 

 portions ; but the base of the tooth shows a doubtful appearance of there having been 

 a small fang below the posterior talon. The dimensions are : — 



in. 



Extreme length 0-40 



Width of crown in front 0-23 



Greatest width 0-32 



Greatest height of crown 0'40 *. 



inch, making the entire length of the tusk between 10"-5 and 12", whilst the depth of the pulp-cavity is not more 

 than 2"'7 in the present state of the specimen ; and as this is remarkably perfect even at the thin alveolar edge, it 

 probably could not b.ive exceeded 2"'9, or 3". As this is rather less, I believe, than the usual proportion of the 

 depth of the pulji-cavity to the length of the tusk as ivory is brought to the market (i), it probably indicates that 

 the tooth was of considerable age and consequently belonged to a mature animal. Dr. Falconer further states 

 that the sj)ecimen described by him was the only instance of the permanent tusk iu the collection ; but in this, be- 

 sides that I have just noticed, I find two other fragments of what I conceive to be very young permanent incisors. 

 One of these, or rather a portion of one of these, is seen attached to the premaxillary bone represented in fig. 46, 

 to which reference has been already made. The other is the basal portion of another young tusk, of exactly 

 the same diameter, about 2 inches long ; the outer end is broken obliquely off' a short way beyond that part of 

 the tooth which, to judge from the colour, was lodged in the alveolus, whilst the other was exposed to some 

 reagent which has given it a brown colotir. The remaining depth of the pulp-cavity is 0"-9 ; and when the tooth 

 was perfect it was probably 1" or rather less ; so that the entire original length of the tusk may be estimated 

 at about 3 inches. Its cii-cumfercnce is 1"'3, and greatest diameter 0"-4. At first sight it does not appear 

 altogether impossible that the two fragments of the small tusk may be parts of one and the same; but, in the 

 first place, the fractured surfaces do not fit, nor is the colour of the interior the same iu both fragments ; and if 

 the two were placed together even without any intennediate missing portion, the tusk woidd be too long in pro- 

 portion, as it seems to me, for the premaxillary bone, and would project from the alveolus much more, in pro- 

 portion to its thickness, than the young tusk of an elephant does. Though no appearance of engine-turned 

 marking can be discerned in either fragment, the external longitudinal striation, where dislamination of the 

 outer layer has taken place, is as coarse as it is in the larger tusk. I have already mentioned that Dr. Falconer 

 had cemented one of these small tusks into what remains of the alveolar cavity in the premaxillary bone ; but 

 on close examination I find that the basal portion fits much more closely ; and I have therefore substituted it in 

 the specimen for the other. 



* The dimensions above given are not quite half those of the corresponding tooth in E. africamis, and as nearly 

 as possible half those of the second mOk -molar in E. indicus, E.primiijenius, and E. antiquum ; so that, admitting 

 it to be really the second and not the true first milk-molar, it is obvious that the Maltese specimen must have 



