6 ME. A. L. ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF 



from fig. 6. It varies likewise in individual instances and in upper and lower molars, 

 sometimes being scarcely apparent, as observed in fig. 7. The parallelism of the disks 

 of fig. 7, and of all crowns like it almost worn to the enamel-reflections, is in consequence 

 of the angle at which the ridges are placed, thus diminishing from above downwards 

 the interval between them, which, as shown in fig. 6, is greatest towards the summits. 

 Thus fig. 7 might represent a transverse section of a crown at a of fig. 6. From the 

 curving of the lower molars these disks of wear show their horns directed somewhat 

 forwards, the anterior machserides being slightly concave, whilst the posterior are slightly 

 convex : see PI. IV. fig. 5. The outlines of the crown vary ; the upper molar, however, 

 is generally broad in front, narrowing rapidly towards its posterior ; whilst the contour 

 of the lower teeth displays discrepancies, which, in combination with other data, go to 

 establish characters which will be pointed out in the sequel. 



The above are seemingly more or less common to all the Maltese fossil Elephants, to 

 wit : — first, great height of plates, which difi"er in thickness of their ivory, cement, and 

 enamel ; second, mesial expansions and angulations of worn disks, with fine or faint 

 crimping of the machserides. 



In some points they resemble the crown-patterns of the African Elephant and E. 

 antiquus, only that the rhomb outline of the disk is by no means so pronounced as in 

 the former : and whilst they assimilate in the height of ridges, mesial expansions, and 

 angulations to E. antiquus, there is the absence of the great crimping of the enamel 

 plates so generally characteristic of this species. 



As regards the numerical estimate of their ridges, collectively, they belong to Falconer's 

 subgenus Loxodon, and yield a formula almost analogous to that oiElephas meridionaUs ; 

 and whilst difiering from one another, they equally, irrespective of the usual character of 

 the milk- and true molars, display thick- and thin-plated varieties, which require careful 

 study and comparison in order not to magnify or underrate their values. I therefore 

 made it an object beforehand to collate all evidence on this head with respect to other 

 known species of this genus. An excellent example is shown in the so-called Elcphas 

 priscvs, Avhich Falconer, deceived by the incompleteness of specimens and their thick 

 plates, placed in the first instance in his subgenus Loxodon ; but he subsequently regarded 

 the condition as only a form oiElephas {Euelcphas) antiquus^. Again, in the usually thin- 

 plated molar of the Mammoth there are considerable discrepancies. Mr. Davies, of the 

 British Museum, than whom very few have had a greater experience in manipulating 

 teeth of fossil Elephants, more especially of the above species, has furnished me with the 

 following pertinent observations on the subject in question. "From an examination of 

 numerous molars oi EI ephas primi genius, found in England and elsewhere, I have long 

 thought that there are two distinct varieties, which are easily recognized, the molars of 

 one being formed of thin plates, separated by narrow intervening layers of cement, the 

 other composed of thicker plates and having wider interspaces. This last form is more 

 ' Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. vol. siii. p. 319, and Palseont. Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 251. 



