THE MALTESE FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 79 



it must be bome in mind that in the case of the African the above characters rest on 

 what a single specimen displays. Again, we must allow for disparities in specimens of 

 the Asiatic, seeing that the majority of instances are obtained from individuals long 

 domesticated, and therefore subjected to the constraint which would doubtless influence 

 the aspect of the bone, more especially its articular facets. 



XII. Tarsus. 



Astragalus. — This bone is represented in my collections by seven specimens, belonging 

 to at least five individuals. As regards dimensions, they are divisible into three distinct 

 sizes — a large, a median, and a pygmy, which differ in the following particulars. 



A Series. — 1. The largest astragalus of an Elephant I have examined from Maltese 

 deposits, is shown in the collection by a fragment (a) from Gaudia Fissure. It consists 

 of only about 2 inches of the inner portion of a right astragalus, divided perpendicu- 

 larly by probably a pickaxe. There is preserved the inner antero-posterior length of 

 the tibial facet, which is 3-4 inches by callipers, and 3-8 inches by tape. 



2. Two nearly perfect specimens (right and left), the former represented in PI. XVI. 

 fig. 1, were discovered by me in Mnaidra Gap, each adhering firmly to the distal extre- 

 mity of the tibise PI. XV. figs. 1 & 2, to which they undoubtedly belonged. The dimen- 

 sions are : — antero-posterior tibial surface 3 inches by 3-5 inches, navicular facet (by 

 callipers) 3 inches broad by I'S inch; the arc (by tape) is 3-5 inches. Outer calcaneal 

 facet has an antero-posterior surface of 2-2 inches, and transverse of 2-3 inches ; the 

 inner is 2-5 inches by 1-1 ; the peroneal is 1-4 inches in antero-posterior by 0-8 inch. 



3. Although smaller than the two just described, and as regards dimensions might be 

 classed with B series, there are two perfect specimens (right and left, evidently of the same 

 individual) from Mnaidra Gap ; the left is represented in PI. XVI. fig. 2. The admea- 

 surements of its facets are : — tibial 2-5 by 2-6 inches in breadth ; naviculare 2-9 inches 

 broad by 1-5 inch ; arc, by tape, 3 inches ; peroneal facet 1-4 by 0-7 inch; internal cal- 

 caneal, antero-posterior 1-9 by 0-9 inch transverse; external calcaneal, antero-posterior 

 1-9 by 2-2 inches transverse. The interosseous pit does not, as in the recent and fossil 

 species, traverse the entire breadth of the under surface, but ends in a deep cavity about 

 the middle, so that the two calcaneal facets are not divided by a fossa. This character, 

 moreover, is common to the three forms of astragalus from Malta. The posterior border 

 is curved in all the Maltese forms, with a projecting angle at the internal extremity. 

 The same obtains to a less extent in the Indian, Mammoth, and E. antiquus, but not 

 apparently ia the African and B. meridionalis, the margin being almost even in them. 

 Both in recent and in all other fossil species I have examined, with the exception of the 

 astragali of B and C series, the tibial facet is nearly surrounded in front and internally 

 by a sulcus, which in some specimens insulates the articular surfaces altogether ; in 

 others the valley terminates near the uiner and posterior angle. Now, while the latter 

 obtains in the above Maltese specimens, they differ from any recent or fossil I have seen 



