94 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



the level of the first disc of wear of the tooth immediately 

 behind ; it bears but slight marks of abrasion, which, however, 

 appear to indicate that it was opposed to a corresponding 

 tooth below. This penultimate premolar is represented of 

 the natural size by fig. 6 of PI. VI. of the work above 

 referred to. 



Dr. Kaup has given a very instructive illustration 1 of the 

 beautifully preserved young lower jaw of M. (Trilophodon) 

 angustidens, which 1 detected (antea, pp. 38, 73) in the collec- 

 tion of M. Ziegler-Ernst at Winterthur. The two premolars 

 are seen in situ in this specimen, the penultimate emerged, the 

 last embedded in the jaw, below the last milk molar. The 

 specimens cited above place it beyond question that the 

 Sewalik species, E. (Loxodon) planifrons, had the premolar 

 series as complete numerically as either Dinotherium gigan- 

 teum or M. (Trilophodon) angustidens. I have already ex- 

 plained that palaeontologists have heretofore entertained an 

 opinion adverse to this being found to occur in any species of 

 Elephant. 



The above remarks may appear to be beside the professed 

 object of the essay, but they are essential to the proper 

 estimate of the characters to be adduced in the sequel, in 

 proof of the specific distinctness of the British fossil Lox- 

 odons, which will now be considered. 



4. Elephas (Loxod.) priscus. — Has the African Elephant 

 ever been found in the fossil state in Europe ? and if so, 

 within what geographical limits ? These are questions of the 

 highest interest, and to which a new kind of importance 

 attaches, from the investigations of some of the later French 

 palaeontologists. In 1821 Professor Goldfuss, of Bonn, pub- 

 lished an account, with figures, of a reputed fossil molar, 

 found in the collection of the Canon Mehring, of Cologne, the 

 precise origin of which was not well ascertained. The crown 

 presents seven discs of wear, with the well-marked rhombs, 

 shaped exactly as in the existing African Elephant. The 

 dimensions of the tooth are — length, 5*4 inches, by an ex- 

 treme width of 2-3 inches, determining it to be a true molar. 

 The specimen is described as being much decomposed ; the 

 crust of cement friable and of an ochre-yellow colour, the 

 ivory greyish white, and the plates of ivory and enamel 

 separated by fissures. In another memoir of a later date, 

 the same author describes other teeth, presenting similar 

 characters, and asserted to be derived from a diluvial deposit, 

 on the banks of the Ruhr in Westphalia ; and he affirms that 

 he had seen in other collections similar fossil teeth. He 



1 Beitrage, Heft iii. 1857, p. 9, tab. i. figs. 1-3. 



