9(5 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



antiquity ; for ivory tusks of the Mammoth have been found 

 in silt in Britain, in such perfect preservation as to have 

 been fit for turning into chess-men. 1 I have examined a skull 

 of the Mammoth, discovered in the Lehin of the valley of the 

 Rhine, and now preserved in the Museum at Mannheim, 

 which is quite as fresh, and appears to retain as much animal 

 matter as crania of existing Elephants that have long been 

 exposed in public collections. It is in a better state of 

 preservation than skulls of domestic animals that have been 

 buried for a long time within the historical period and sub- 

 sequently disinterred. 



The most characteristic specimen of Eleph. (Loxodon) 

 priscus that has yet been discovered in British deposits is 

 a tooth which was purchased by the late Mr. Konig, then 

 keeper of the Mineralogical and Palaeontological Gallery, for 

 the British Museum, of Mr. Ball, a well-known trading 

 collector. It was stated to have been procured from the 

 brick-earth excavations at Gray's Thurrock, in the valley 

 of the Thames — a locality rich in Mammalian fossils, and 

 first brought to notice by the able investigations of Mr. 

 Morris. No precise particulars as to the history of the 

 specimens were ascertained or put on record by Mr. Konig. 

 But on paying a visit to Gray's Thurrock, in company with 

 the late Professor Edward Forbes and Colonel James, in 

 the summer of 1845, with the express object of examining 

 the association of extinct Mammalia in this very interesting 

 deposit, I was informed on the spot that the tooth in question 

 belonged to the skeleton of an Elephant, the greater part of 

 which was found spread out in one place by the workmen, 

 when digging for brick-earth. Most of the bones were 

 destroyed in the operation ; but besides this molar, another, 

 belonging to the same animal, was retained by Mr. Meeson, 

 the proprietor of the brick-field. 



The specimen (No. 39,370 of the Brit. Mus. MS. Cat.) is a 

 last molar, left side, of the lower jaw. The mineral charac- 

 ters, friability, test by the tongue, colour, dull fracture, and 

 general appearance, leave no doubt as to its being a veritable 

 fossil. Mr. Konig, to place this important point beyond 

 question, permitted it to be sawn up, and the condition of 

 the interior was equally conclusive of its fossil nature. The 

 longitudinal section is represented by fig. 7 b of PL XIV. of 

 the ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis ; 2 (reproduced in PL VII. 



1 The fossil tusks of the Mammoth 

 form an article of commerce in Siberia, 

 a nd are largely used in the manufacture 

 of ornaments and statuettes. &c. | p. 441. — [Kd.] 



2 The dimensions of the tooth are 

 given in the description of it in the 

 ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis.' See vol. i. 



