e. (loxodon) mekidionalis. 



107 



so exact as to be conclusive ; but in the form of the discs of 

 wear, in the thickness of the enamel-plates, and in the slight 

 degree of crimping along the edges, it differs alike from E. 

 (Euelephas) primigenius and E. (Euelephas) antiquus, and 

 corresponds with Italian specimens of E. meridionalis. In 

 Plate X. fig. 1 of the same work, he gives a representation of 

 a fossil molar discovered by Lecoq at Clermont, which exhi- 

 bits similar characters. He refers to Nesti's researches, and 

 sums up by inferring that, as there are two living Elephants, 

 so there were two fossil species — the one with attenuated 

 plates, being the Mammoth of Siberia, the other with thick 

 plates, as seen in specimens from Porentrui, Romagnano, 

 Monte Verde, Laufen (in Germany), and the Val d'Arno. He 

 considered the facts sufficient, but^ assigned no other name to 

 the second species than that of ' Elephant de Malbattu,' and 

 awaited the results of further discovery for confirmation of 

 the inference. 



Professor Owen has entered very fully into the question of 

 distinct species, in the part devoted to Elephas of his Report 

 to the British Association for 1843, and subsequently repro- 

 duced in his separate work on the ' British Fossil Mammalia.' 

 The result at which he arrived, after examining a vast num- 

 ber of specimens, was that there had been only one species of 

 fossil Elephant in Britain, namely, E. primigenius ; and while 

 fully recognizing the marked differences presented by mo- 

 lars from different localities and different deposits, he had 

 found so many intermediate gradations, that be was unable to 

 draw a well-defined line between the thick- plated and 

 thin-plated varieties. The consideration of the grounds upon 

 which this opinion was founded will fall more properly into 

 the discussion on the fossil species of Euelephas. In regard 

 to E. meridionalis, he alleges that the variety of molar (i.e. 

 thick-plated) on which this proposed species is founded occurs 

 not only in England, but in Siberia and as far north as 

 Eschscholtz Bay ; ' and, in proof, he appeals to the specimens 

 described by Buckland in the appendix to the ' Voyage of the 

 Blossom.' Professor Owen refers to this thick-plated variety 

 of the Mammoth certain British molars, which will be noticed 

 in the sequel, as belonging to E. (Loxod.) meridionalis. I 

 may remark that the conclusions to which I have been led on 

 all the points involved in the question of distinct species or 

 varieties in the European fossil Elephants are widely dif- 



1 I got yesterday from Mr. Christy the 

 molar of the Elephant from the Ural 

 mountains. It is certainly neither of 

 E. primigenius nor of E. antiquus, and 

 so far as the evidence goes it is of E. 



meridionalis, although the plates are a 

 little more approximated than usual. If 

 really from the Ural mountains, it is of 

 great imoortance. — Litter to M. Lartet, 

 Dec. 31, 1863.— [Ed.] 



