118 BKITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



the crown there is a great tendency to distinctness in the 

 digital processes. The cement in this specimen is in a great 

 measure denuded. The plates of enamel project high above 

 the level of the cement. The enamel is very black and highly 

 rugous at the sides of the crown, with transverse wavy grooves. 

 The dimensions are : — 



Extreme length, 13-0 in. Width in front, about 4-0 in. Greatest width near the 

 middle, 4 - 3 in. Greatest height of the plates behind, only 4 - 9in. 



From the abnormal characters of this molar, it cannot be 

 safely taken for a guide as to the> ridge-formula. The dis- 

 tortion of the crown may account for the unusual number 

 of ridges. I have seen a still more remarkable case of similar 

 maLformation in a British fossil molar of E. (Euelephas) an- 

 tiquus. 



Another weathered or decomposed lower last molar of the 

 right side is entire in front, but deficient in the posterior 

 talon. The crown presents twelve ridges and a front talon. 

 The enamel in this specimen is very thick and rugous. The 

 dimensions are : — 



Extreme length of crown, about 11*5 in. Width of the second ridge (enamel 

 surface), 3"5 in. Width of the sixth, 37 in. Height of the eighth plate, 5 - 0in. 



The number of ridges in the last lower molar is inferred to 

 vary from thirteen to fifteen. A similar but still greater va- 

 riation is known to occur in all the species of Euelephas, and 

 it in no respects throws uncertainty upon the constancy of the 

 ridge-formula in the other teeth. 



e. Premolars. — From the close affinity of the molar teeth 

 in E. (Loxodon) planifrons and E. (Loxodon) meridionalis I in- 

 stituted a close search in the latter for the premolar teeth, 

 which are so remarkably developed in the former ; but I could 

 detect no indication of their presence. (See antea, p. 93.) 



f. Ridge-formula. — Taking the data yielded by the pre- 

 ceding descriptions, and using a; as a symbol for the talons, 

 the ridge-formula of the true molars in E. {Loxodon) meri- 

 dionalis appears to be thus : — 



x8x + x( 8-9 )x + x!3x 



x8x + x{8-9)x + (13-15)*' 



and for the whole series, milk and permanent, rejecting 

 talons : — 



Milk molars. True molars. 



3 + 6 + 8 . 8 + (8-9) + 13 



3 + 6 + 8' 8 + (8-9) + 13-15' 



If this be compared with the ridge-formula of E. (Loxodon) 

 Africanus and E. (Loxodon) planifrons (antea, pp. 90 & 91), 



