24 



BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL MASTODONS. 



to the traditions of his great leader, was compelled by the 

 evidence to admit two species — namely, M. angustidens, under 

 which title he included the Italian, Auvergne, and part of the 

 Eppelsheim remains ; and M. longirostris, under which he 

 ranged both the principal part of Kaup's Eppelsheim species, 

 and the whole of the Simorre remains. 1 Misled by the undue 

 importance which he attached to the presence of mandibular 

 incisors common to the two forms, he sunk the characters 

 presented by the molars, and confounded ternary -ridged and 

 quaternary-ridged forms under the same name, although it is 

 distinctly evident that he was aware that two of the European 

 species severally possessed 3 and 4 ridges to their inter- 

 mediate molars, and that the ternary formula was common to 

 the Mastodons of North America and of Simorre. In 1828, 

 four years before the demise of Cuvier, Croizet and Jobert 2 

 proposed the name of M. Arvernensis for the Auvergne 

 remains, as distinct from M. angustidens ; and soon afterwards 

 Dr. Kaup 3 published his magnificent series of the Eppel- 

 sheim form as equally distinct, under the designation of M. 

 longirostris, which has been regarded by Hermann von Meyer 

 to be identical with M. Arvernensis. 11 Lartet 5 had accurately 

 determined the milk and permanent dentition (so far as the 

 true molars are concerned) of the Simorre form as far back as 

 1847. He assigned three ridges to the last milk molar and 

 to the antepenultimate and penultimate true molars in both 

 jaws; and in his ' Notice,' 6 published in 1851, he proposes 

 to distinguish it by the name of Mastodon Simorrense, retain- 

 ing the designation of Mastodon angustidens for the Italian 

 and Auvergne remains, characterized by four ridges in the 

 penultimate true molar, instead of three. Lartet at the same 

 time 7 proposed the name of Mastodon Gaujaci for a sup- 

 posed small form from the same Miocene deposit at Lombez. 

 Laurillard considered it as furnishing a confirmation of the 

 conjectural species named Mastodon minutus by Cuvier. 8 



Gervais followed Laurillard in considering the Simorre M. 

 (Triloph.) angustidens and M. (Tetraloph.) longirostris as be- 

 longing to the same species, M. longirostris; but adopted 

 for the Auvergne form the name of M. Arvernensis ; and went 

 a step beyond his predecessors in proposing a new name for 

 the Mastodon remains found in the arenaceous deposits near 



1 Dictioniiaire Universel d'Histoire 

 Naturelle, torn. viii. p. 29. 



2 Reeherehes sur les Ossemens 

 Fossiles du Departement du Puy-de- 

 Dome, p. 133. 



3 Ossemens Fossiles. de Darmstadt, 

 pt. iv. 



4 Nova Acta Acad. Nat. Cur. vol. xvii. 



p. 113. 



5 Dictionnaire Universelled'Histoire, 

 Naturelle, torn. viii. p. 29. 



6 Notice sur la Colline de Sansan, 

 p. 24. 



7 Op. cit. p. 27. 



8 Dietionnaire Universel d' Histoire 

 Naturelle, torn. viii. p. 31. 



