88 



ME. A. L. ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF 



B. M.) is singularly shaped as compared with many Indian specimens of different ages. 

 These differences are very apparent in the woodcuts. 



Again, in the fossil and Mammoth Sumatran and old Indian the anterior surface is 

 concave, whereas in the A/rican (708 /;) it is rather convex. The facets for the internal 

 and external cuneiforms seem to vary in extent and number in different individuals of 

 recent species and in the Mammoth. 



The following are the dimensions of fig. 3 — thickness 0-8 inch, anterior facet 1'2 by 1, 

 posterior I'l by I'l. 



Internal Cuneiform. 



The two left internal cuneiforms shown at PI. XIX. fig. 1, and PI. XVII. fig. 6, 

 seem to differ from any recent or fossil equivalents I have examined in being relatively 

 shorter and broader. Thus, whilst this bone does not appear to differ much in outline 

 in the African and Asiatic, there are these disparities between them and the internal 

 cuneiform of the Maltese elephants. This arises from the obliquity of the facets 

 which contract the inner border, thus : — 



Fig. 6. 



No. 2. 



No. 1. No. 3. 



Internal Cuneiform of the Asiatic (1) and Maltese (2 and 3) Elephants. Nat. size. 



The greater obliquity of the navicular facet in the African as compared with the 

 Asiatic is therefore a character also of the Maltese specimens, which, however, have it 

 in excess ; moreover they differ from the recent in having these surfaces broader, with 

 much less developed facets for the middle cuneiform. 



How far do they differ from one another \ As regards outline there may be said to be 

 little, if any, point of distinction worthy of note, unless it be that PI. XVII. fig. 6 has 

 a rounder and relatively narrower distal extremity {a) than that of PI. XIX. fig. 1 [a) ; 

 therefore it is a more slender bone, and may have belonged to the smaller form. 



1. The specimen, fig. 6, was found in Benghisa Gap with other feet-bones referable 

 to the smallest form. The total length is 1-5 inch, and greatest breadth 1-4. The 



