98 



ME. A. L. ADAMS ON THE OSTEOLOGY OF 



1"8 in breadth, breadth of third metacarpal facet 0'7. This bone is as long as that of 

 707 h B.M., but is very much broader in every way. 



Kg, 8. 



No. 2. 



Fourth metacarpals of Maltese elephants. 



B Type. — What is evidently a left fourth metacarpal is shown in woodcut no. 2. Al- 

 though nearly the same length as no. 1, it is a much more slender bone, and has its shaft 

 far more rounded. Thus, whilst the former partakes of the characters of the African, the 

 latter is more in keeping with the Asiatic species, especially the insular variety in the 

 British Museum, seeing that the articular surfaces are well defined, the distal being 

 even concave. It may just, however, represent a youthful bone of the same elephant as 

 described in A series, though the epiphyses are completely consolidated. Its dimen- 

 sions are — length 3-6 inches, breadth of middle of shaft 1-4, greatest depth of mid- 

 shaft 1-2, anterior articular facet 1-8 by 1-5. The proximal facet is too much injured 

 for description. The claims of this specimen to the position assigned to it seem to me 

 good ; but to whatever bone of the fore or hind foot it may belong, there can be less 

 doubt but it is very different from the members of A type ; and, as I shall now point 

 nut, it is still more distinct from those of C type, which differ little from it in length, 

 but very much in breadth. 



C Trjpe. — The fourth metacarpal and the third metacarpal, PI. XIX. figs. 3 and 4, 

 belong to the same foot. They were found side by side, and evidently owed their perfect 



