248 MISS D. M. A. BATE ON [Ma 



III. Conclusions. 



It was at one time thought that the discovery of I'emains of 

 different Elephants in the Pleistocene cave-deposits of Crete might 

 help to throw additional, or perhaps even fresh, light on the subject 

 of the origin and development of pigm)^ forms. However, it will 

 have been seen fi-om the above desciiptions that the material ob- 

 tained is very fragmentary, so that little more than the identity 

 of the species can be established, though there is at least sufficient 

 to suggest one or two minor problems of some considerable interest. 



The occurrence of two species of Elephant in more or less con- 

 temporary deposits in such a compai-atively restricted area as Crete 

 hints at, though by no means proves, the likelihood of some 

 possible relationship or connection between them. It seems quite 

 cei'tain that Crete, even if well covered with a luxuriant vegetation, 

 could not support for long an Elejjhant of such great size as 

 E. antiquus, so it is probable that this lai'ge race, at all events as 

 such, ceased to exist in early Pleistocene times, which would be 

 tantamount to sajdng shortly after the separation of the island 

 from the mainland. 



It seems a firmly established and well-supported theory that 

 the dwarf proportions of the pigmy species found in most of the 

 larger Mediterranean islands ai'e a specialised character accpiired to 

 meet the exigencies of these island habitats ; for, as M. Gaudry has 

 remarked *, these former small races have confirmed the idea that 

 the size of animals was in accordance with the extent of their 

 habitat. Among other arguments, if needed, in favour of this is the 

 fact that up to the present no similar remains of a small form are 

 known to occur in deposits earlier than Pleistocene. In this con- 

 nection further information with regard to the extent and cause 

 of the dwarfing of U. af)'icanus 2}w>nilio Noack f, from the French 

 Congo, will be of the utmost interest, and might also hell? to 

 elucidate the pi'oblem of the possibly analogous Jlipjjopotamics 

 liberiensis. 



Nowadays many writers maintain that E. antiquus is the parent 

 form of the hitherto described pigmies of the Mediterranean area, 

 and this seems to have been well established by Prof. Pohlig % in 

 the case of the remains fi-om Sicily. At first sight the idea that 

 these tiny forms were all derived from one of the largest species 

 of the genus appears to be a somewhat startling one, but may it 

 not be that the attainment of such dimensions under favourable cir- 

 cumstances points to the species having been one highly susceptible 

 to and strongly acted upon by its environment and conditions of 

 life ? If so, the same would apply under opposite conditions, 

 adverse circumstances causing a rapid diminution in size ; for, as 



* " Ont confirme I'idee que la taille des animaux etait en rapport avec I'^tendue 

 de leur habitat " ' Foss. de Patagonie,' Ann. de Pal^ontologie, tome i. fasc. iii., Juiii 

 1906, p. 8. 



t Zool. Anzeiger, Bd. xxix. No. 20, Jan. 1906. 



J Abh. d. k.-bay. Akad. Wiss. xviii., and Nov. Act. L.-C. Akad. Naturforsch. Ivii. 



