42 MR. A. L. ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OP 



Length of crown surface in wear 3-2 inches. 



Length of the symphysial gutter 2-2 inches. 



The injuries unfortunately have materially destroyed many important characters of 

 this instructive jaw; however, the following are apparent. In the outline of the lower 

 border, with reference to the ascending ramus and prolonged fore part, there is a 

 decided resemblance to the jaws, figs. 3 & 4 of the same Plate, and, consequently to 

 E. antiquus and the African Elephant. The diasteme not being preserved, we can only 

 surmise from the fragment c, in front of fig. 1, that, like the Asiatic, E. antiquus, and • 

 fig. 2, it was nearly vertical. The symphysial canal is shallow ; and the chin is trun- 

 cated, without a trace of a beak or rostrum of any size, just as we have seen obtains 

 in all the preceding. The coronoid apophysis rises perpendicularly, with slight beetling 

 over of its crest; and the dental foramen opens just under the neck, which is also a 

 general character of the Asiatic species. 



In Mr. Busk's description of the characters of the jaw of his Elephas melitensis, he 

 points out a shallow sulcus' on the narrow posterior border of the ascending ramus behind 

 the dental foramen. This character is well seen in the African skull, 2845 Royal College 

 of Surgeons, forming a sharp border along the margin of the ascending ramus, and is 

 also very apparent at b, fig. 1, forming a pronounced hollow on the posterior margin. 

 Unfortunately none of the other jaws I have referred to the small form of Elephant, 

 excepting PI. V. fig. 1 h, have the portions of their ascending rami preserved, so as to 

 confirm the character ; but the fact of its presence in a ramus from Zebbug and Ben- 

 ghisa Gap would seem to place beyond a doubt that it is a regular condition, at all 

 events in the smallest of the Maltese Elephants. With reference, therefore, to the 

 comparative characters of the above jaw, there is apparently a strange commingling of 

 the characters of the Elephas antiquus and the two recent species, which is further 

 illustrated by the bones to be described. 



As regards relative dimensions — in length, thickness, depth along the alveolar border, 

 and height of ascending ramus, the above and a lower jaw of the Asiatic Elephant, No, 

 2667 in the Royal College of Surgeons, come very near each other. The latter contains 

 the last milk-molar in nearly full wear, with a fragment of the preceding still in use, 

 which, according to the ordinary specimens, would indicate an individual not over 5 feet 

 in height, if quite as much, and of the dimensions of the Elephas melitensis of Falconer 

 and Busk^. 



7. The very interesting but, unfortunately, imperfect lower ramus No. 35 (PI. IX. 

 fig. 1), the molar of which I have doubtfully referred to the last of the dental series of 



' Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi. p. 236. 



' As regards Dr. Falconer's) estimate of the height of the pygmy fossil Elephant of Malta, he says " it stood 

 between a large tapir and the small unicorn rhinoceros of Java " (Palseont. Mem. vol. ii. p. 299). Mr. Busk 

 computes the height of his intermediate-sized dwarf Elephant at about 55 inches (Trans. Zool. Soc. vol. vi. 

 Table v. opp. p. 306). 



