126 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



terminates upwards in a deep concave notch of the vertex. 

 In E. meridionalis, and also in a less degree in E. primigenius, 

 it is overarched by a produced lamina of the vertex. I am 

 unable to give any details as to the extent of the sphenoid 

 alse in the Italian form. 



7. Basal aspect. — One of tbe distinctive characters of the 

 Mammoth, upon which Cuvier laid much stress, is the paral- 

 lelism of the molars in the upper jaw. In E. meridionalis, 

 young and old, they invariably converge, more or less, in 

 front. In young specimens this convergence is very pro- 

 nounced ; in the worn-out molars of very old crania it is less 

 obvious. It is distinctively shown in the palate-specimen, 

 fig. 1 of Plate VI. of Cortesi's cranium, from Monte Pul- 

 gnasco. 



The materials for comparative description of the crania of 

 the Elephants have been largely increased since the time of 

 Cuvier, and chiefly with the skulls of Indian fossil species. 

 The points here indicated clearly show that the cranium of 

 E. meridionalis differs more from that of the Mammoth than 

 does the latter from the existing Indian Elephant. The 

 Italian form, in this respect, resembles most the cranium of 

 E. Hysudricus from the Sewalik hills, and is intermediate 

 between it and that of the African Elephant, although widely 

 different from both. 



i. Lower Jaw. — Much importance was attached by Cuvier 

 to the form of the mandible as distinctive of the Mammoth ; 

 and to that of E. meridionalis by Nesti. I have already ad- 

 verted to the error committed by the latter (pp. 42, 81, and 

 105) in taking the lower jaw of M. Arvemensis as the type 

 of his E. meridionalis. He adhered to this opinion to the 

 last, notwithstanding the correction by Cuvier. The demon- 

 stration is so manifest that it would be unnecessary to discuss 

 the point again, but that De Blainville has reproduced Nesti's 

 figure in the ' Osteographie,' with the designation of E. 

 meridionalis, thus sanctioning it in some measure with his 

 authority. 



In Mastodon Arvemensis the horizontal ramus anteriorly 

 bulges out with great convexity, and the symphysial beak is 

 projected forwards with very little inclination of the diaste- 

 ma! ridges, and not as a continuation of the lower margin of 

 the ramus, which is rounded off and curved upwards to join 

 the beak. The latter is raised considerably above the level 

 of the lower margin, which is convex in the antero-posterior 

 direction. The beak forms a short, blunt, dilated spout, with 

 raised diastemal margins. On the contrary, in all the known 

 Elephants of the groups Loxodon and Eneleplias, the beak of 

 the symphysis is a prolongation of the inferior margin, into 



