196 H. Woodward — Visit to the Brussels Museum. 



alveolar end) ten feet six inches in entire length. (See Geological 

 Magazine, 1864:, Vol. 1., p. 241, with a figure of skull.) 



There are two molars above and two below, in situ, on each side. 



The inter-alveolar space in the Belgian specimen is very wide, 

 and the alveoli diverge, and are separated along the median line for 

 a short distance. 



When the photograph was taken all the restored parts were left 

 white, now they are tinted, but one sees at a glance each part that 

 has been modelled or restored. 



The imperfect skeleton of Elephas antiquus is sufficient to demon- 

 strate the difference in stature between the two species. 



The Mammoth, eleven feet six inches in height, is, nevertheless, 

 only a young animal. 



The E. antiquus is an aged individual, yet its height is only eight 

 feet six inches or nine feet. The tusks are small and slender, and 

 the ends are much worn. We notice in this specimen the same 

 broad inter-alveolar space as in the Mammoth. The forehead is 

 very high, and the front broad. The molar teeth are broad and flat, 

 and much worn down. I counted eight to nine plates in each. 



The remains of E. antiquus consist of the skull with lower jaw, one 

 cervical vertebra, nearly all the ribs, the pelvis, and one hind-leg 

 entire, save the carpal bones. 



The immense value of the Belgian Mammoth will be the better 

 understood when it is borne in mind that the only other equally 

 perfect skeleton known is the Siberian example preserved at St. 

 Petersburg, of which no correct representation has as yet been 

 published.^ 



Should His Imperial Majesty the Czar desire to express that com- 

 plete cordiality which he must doubtless now feel towards the 

 British Grovernment, on the settlement of the Black Sea question, 

 he could not show it in a more pleasing form than by presenting 

 the National Museum with the skeleton of a Siberian Mammoth to 

 grace the Geological Gallery of the new National Museum of 

 Natural History, which is shortly to arise at South Kensington. 



In the event of our not obtaining a Eussian Mammoth, it is agree- 

 able to know that we can always procure a plaster-cast of the Belgian 

 specimen in the way of exchange. 



But the reconstruction of the skeleton of Elephas primigenius is by 

 no means all, if even it can be said to be the most important, of M. 

 Dupont's labours. Before his appointment in 1865, MM. Dupont 

 and van Beneden were appointed to superintend the exploration of 

 the ossiferous caverns in the valley of the Lesse (a tributary of the 

 Meuse), and elsewhere, on behalf of the Belgian Government. The 

 brilliant manner in which this work was done has been already told 

 in various reports.^ 



1 That whicli accompanies Dr. Tilesius's paper, printed in London in 1819, is far 

 from correct. See the remarks in my paper, already quoted, Geol. Mag., 1868, 

 Vol. v., p. 540, PI. XXII. and XXIII. " On the Curvature of the Tusks in the 

 Mammoth." 



2 See Geol. Mag., 1866, Vol. III., p. 566, et seq. 



