e. (loxodon) mekidionalis. 



121 



them. All that can be said of the Val d'Arno specimens is, 

 that they are invariably without the double or spiral curva- 

 ture and circular arc, with recurved points, which are so 

 generally observable in the tusks of the Mammoth, and that 

 they most resemble those of the African Elephant. 



h. Cranium. — The characters yielded by the ridge-formula 

 are so pronounced, and so distinctive of E. meridionalis from 

 E. primigenius, that the inquiry is immediately suggested, 

 ' Are they borne out by a corresponding amount of difference 

 in the form of the cranium ? ' The reply is in the affirmative ; 

 but I cannot pretend to establish this part of the case with 

 the precision and metrical proofs which I have endeavoured 

 to adduce in regard to the teeth. This duty should devolve 

 upon some of the anatomists or palaeontologists of Italy. The 

 time and means of access at the disposal of a mere traveller 

 are unequal to the satisfactory accomplishment of a laborious 

 task of this nature. But it is to be hoped that the deside- 

 ratum will not continue long unfulfilled. In the remarks 

 which follow, I shall combine the results of my own observa- 

 tions with those of Nesti, which I was enabled to verify at 

 Florence, and with the avowal that they are to be considered 

 more as a contribution ' pour servir ' than as an exact or 

 complete description of the subject. 1 



The following materials, in relation to the cranium, exist 

 in the Museum at Florence : — 



1. A very young cranium with the lower jaw attached, 

 containing the earliest milk-teeth unworn. It is complete, 

 but crushed. Nesti mentions that he had seen another foetal 

 cranium in the possession of Count Bardi. 



1 The Grand Dukes of Tuscany have 

 long evinced the enlightened spirit of pa- 

 tronage of science and the liberal arts 

 which was bequeathed to them by the 

 illustrious Medici. But art-worship, and 

 reverence of the relics of Galileo, have 

 cast some branches of inquiry into the 

 cold shade of disregard. The Grand 

 Ducal Museum at Florence contains a 

 collection of Mammalian remains from 

 the Pliocene deposits of the Val d'Arno, 

 unrivalled in Europe both for their 

 abundance and for the perfect condition 

 in which they are preserved. Elsewhere 

 palaeontologists are compelled to grope 

 their way by the faint light of mutilated 

 specimens ; there the fossil remains of 

 the same forms are presented entire. A 

 good monograph, liberally illustrated, 

 upon the fossil Mammalia of the Val 

 dArno would reflect as bright a lustre 

 on the Italian diadem as do the chefs- 

 d'auvrc of the Tribune or the Galleries 



of the Palazzo Pitti. The patronage of 

 the Court has been for centuries be- 

 stowed upon the wax-models of the Mu- 

 seum, but withheld from the magnificent 

 fossil remains that are laid out under 

 the same roof. Except a few and inade- 

 quate memoirs by Nesti, nothing worthy 

 of the subject has been brought out in 

 Italy upon these Tuscan collections dur- 

 ing the last half century ; and it is not 

 overstating the fact to say that the pro- 

 gress of research on the extinct faunas 

 of the Upper Tertiary formation in Eu- 

 rope has been retarded a quarter of a 

 century in consequence. Had these col- 

 lections been yielded either by Siberia 

 or by tho northern part of the valley of 

 the Po, the general results would have 

 been familiar knowledge long ago. At 

 present, a journey to Florence is the 

 only means of becoming acquainted 

 with them. 



