20 



BKITISH AND EUKOPEAN FOSSIL MASTODONS. 



The European fossil species of Mastodon at present known 

 are the following, 1 all of which are of Miocene age, with 

 the exception of M. (Trilophodori) Borsoni and M. [Tetralo- 

 phoclon) Arvernensis, which are Pliocene : — 



M. (Triloph.) Borsoni, Isaac Hays (Pliocene). 



M. (Triloph.) Tapiroides, Cuvier. 



M. (Triloph.) angustidens, Cuvier, pro parte. 



M. (Tetraloph.) longirostris, Kaup. 



M. (Tetraloph.) Arvernensis, Croizet & Jobert (Pliocene). 



The British fossil Mastodon, and its comparison with M. 

 angustidens, M. Arvernensis, and M. longirostris. — The remains 

 of only one species of Mastodon have hitherto been discovered 

 in the British Isles, in what is called the Older Pliocene 

 ' Eed Crag,' at Felixstow and Sutton in Suffolk, and in the 

 Newer Pliocene, ' Fluvio-marine,' or ' Mammaliferous Crag,' 

 in various localities near Norwich and in Suffolk. I shall now 

 endeavour to ascertain what this species is ; and as I con- 

 sider that the question is one of considerable importance, as 

 a turning-point upon which the independent character of the 

 British Pliocene fauna hangs — that is to say, whether it is 

 distinct, or merely a long-lived offset from the Miocene — I 

 shall not hesitate to enter at length upon the details calcu- 

 lated to throw light upon the subject. 



Professor Owen is the only English palaeontologist who has 

 undertaken to identify and describe in connexion all the 

 Mastodon remains of the Crag, which he has done very fully 

 in his valuable work ' On the British Fossil Mammalia,' pub- 

 lished in 1846. He there designates the species Mastodon 

 angustidens or Mastodonte a dents etroites of Cuvier ; and 

 gives as synonyms, in his opinion, M. Arvernensis of Croizet 

 and Jobert, and M. longirostris of Kaup. He heads the 

 chapter with a woodcut of the upper and lower jaws of the 

 Eppelsheim M. longirostris, after Kaup, under the name of 

 Mastodon angustidens ; and in his description of the dentition 

 of M. angustidens, in the ' Odontography,' 2 he draws his 

 details of the various teeth indifferently from the three nomi- 

 nal species above mentioned — namely, M. angustidens, M. 

 longirostris, and M. Arvernensis. In his memoir on the Crag 



1 M. Ayroard has added largely to 

 the nomenclature of the Proboscidea by 

 creating a new genus, and new species 

 for the remains found in the Velay and 

 Auvergne — viz. Anancus macrophis, as 

 a generic form distinct from Mastodon ; 

 and Mastodon Vellavus and M. Vialettii, 

 regarded by Pomel as synonyms of M. 

 Borsoni; also a fossil Elephant, E. 



giganteus, Aym. But the specific dis- 

 tinction of these nominal species is 

 exceedingly doubtful (vide Bulletin de 

 la Societe G^ologique ; and Congres 

 Scientifque de France, 1855, p. 276). 

 The species referred to in a precediug 

 page as having been made out by M. 

 Lartet has not yet been published. 

 2 Op. cit. p. 619 et seq. 



