E. (LOXODON) MERIDIONALIS. 12? 



wliich the diastemal ridges descend with great obliquity ; and 

 it is attenuated towards the apex to terminate in an obtuse 

 point (vide Faun. Antiq. Sival., PL XIII. B. figs. 1-8). The 

 original of Nesti's figure yields all these distinctive marks of 

 Mastodon in a very pronounced manner, and it is demon- 

 strable that the beak is incompatible with the ascertained 

 direction of the incisive bones and tusks of the upper jaw in 

 E. meridionalis. 



Of the numerous rami of the lower jaw, young and old, of 

 this species in the Florentine Museum, the most perfect is an 

 entire mandible attached to the cranium No. 8 of the above 

 enumeration. There are other specimens of a much larger 

 size. On the comparison of several, the following characters 

 were yielded : — 



1. The teeth of the opposite sides converge in front, in- 

 stead of being nearly parallel, or but little inclined, as in E. 

 primigenius. 



Much stress was laid upon this character by Cuvier in his 

 description of the Mammoth ; but it is assuredly neither ab- 

 solute nor constant. In proof of this I may refer to figs. 1, 

 2, and 3 of PI. XIII. A. < Fauna Antiq. Sival.,' or to fig. 1 of 

 PI. I. of Fossil Remains in the ' Voyage of the Blossom,' in 

 all of which the opposite lines of molars are more or less 

 convergent. 



2. The length of the alveolar margin, from the anterior 

 edge of the ascending ramus to the commencement of the 

 diasteme, and the entire length of the horizontal ramus, both 

 absolutely and relatively to the breadth of the ascending 

 ramus, are greater in E. meridionalis than in E. primigenius. 



3. In the Mammoth the rami meet in front by a very ob- 

 tuse and rounded curve, from which a short, deflected, and 

 contracted beak is suddenly given off; in E. meridionalis they 

 unite by the curve of a flattened ellipse, and the symphysial 

 beak is given off by a broader base and less suddenly. 



This obtuse and rounded outline in the Mammoth was 

 much insisted upon by Cuvier. It is constant and very dis- 

 tinctive of the species. The figures above cited may be re- 

 ferred to. 



4. In E. primigenius the horizontal ramus attains a great 

 elevation in front, from wliich the diastemal ridges descend 

 nearly vertically, or with an abrupt inclination, into the short 

 beak : in E. meridionalis the ramus is longer, and proportion- 

 ally less elevated in front, and the diastemal margins slope 

 gradually into the symphysial beak from a broader base ; the 

 apophysis is produced more in front, and is larger in all its 

 dimensions than in E. primigenius. The symphysis is in 

 consequence longer in E. meridionalis. In the perfect man- 



