58 MB. A. L. ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF 



considered on the score of dimensions and characters, seem to go hand in hand with 

 these young hones. 



VIII. Femue. 



The differences between the femurs of the African and Asiatic Elephants have been 

 pointed out by Mr. Busk in respect of their connexions with the Maltese forms'; the 

 only question becomes how far a series of specimens of the African Elephant would 

 substantiate the characters represented by the only available instance in the British 

 Museum. The prominence or otherwise of ridges dependent on age must of course be 

 always taken into account, and also the length of time the individual has been in 

 captivity. I apprehend, moreover, that the age for the consolidation of the epiphyses 

 (of the extremities in particular) is much influenced by conditions of life. The African 

 Elephant's skeleton (708 /i) in the British Museum, although that of a full-grown 

 animal, with the penultimate true molar in wear, has the epiphyses of the long bones 

 detachable, although the individual is said to have been killed in its native haunts ; 

 the same obtains in the case of the Chuny ; indeed it would seem that even in a wild 

 state the consolidation is not ordinarily completed until the last true molar cuts the 

 gum ; consequently the bones I am now about to describe must in general be considered 

 as belonging to aged individuals. 



The specimens of femurs of adult Elephants in my collection seem to me to be 

 capable of division into two series. 



A Series. — The larger is represented by several specimens, differing somewhat in 

 dimensions, as follows : — 



Specimen a showed a portion of the upper part of a right femur found in Mnaidra 

 Gap, the head of which gave a circumference of 15 inches, with a breadth across the 

 latter and great trochanter of 9'5 inches. Here the epiphyses were completely con- 

 solidated. 



Specimen J, right side, from the same situation, was found entire, but unfortunately 

 came to be disturbed and broken before I could take the exact length of the bone, of 

 which the head and lower condyles are shown in PI. XI. figs. 5 & 6 ; however, I sur- 

 mised it may have been about 33 inches, or, in other words, of almost the precise mea- 

 surements of that of the Sumatran Elephant in the British Museum. Thus the diameter 

 of the head (fig. 5) was 4-2 inches, least transverse diameter of the shaft 2 '9, antero- 

 posterior diameter at the same point 2-3, least circumference 9, transverse diameter of 

 head with trochanter 9, transverse diameter at the line of the lower epiphyses (fig. 6) 5-8, 

 transverse diameter of condyles 5, middle of patellar sulcus 2-4 inches. 



Specimen c. The next, as regards dimensions, are the portions of right and left 

 femurs, of evidently the same individual, shown in PI. XIV. figs. I & 2. The head of 

 fig. 2 is not shown in the Plate ; and the lower condyles and portion of the shaft of fig. 1 

 were not discovered. Close to the above lay the entire tibia (PI. XV. fig. 1), with its 



' Trans. Zool. Soc. vi. p. 248. 



