156 BRITISH AND EUROPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



left inferior penultimate in the Museum at Taunton lias a 

 crown composed of sixteeD principal ridges, with front and 

 back talons. The twelve anterior ridges are worn. The di- 

 mensions in this case are : — 



Length of crown, ll'O in. Width of ditto at third ridge, 2 - 3 in. "Width of ditto 

 at eighth ridge, 3-1 in. Height of ditto at twelfth ridge, 6"0 in. 



It is not meant to be insisted that the cipher 16 absolutely 

 and constantly determines the number of ridges in the pe- 

 nultimate molar, upper and lower, of the Indian Elephant. I 

 believe that exceptional cases occur in which they range as 

 high as twenty in the lower penultimate in very large indi- 

 viduals. But, taking the great majority of instances, the 

 prevailing number is seen to be sixteen. 



The last true molar, both in the upper and lower jaws, is 

 subject to a considerable difference of size in different indi- 

 viduals ; but it is readily distinguishable, both by the modi- 

 fication in the form, and by the circumstance that the ridges 

 constantly either attain or surpass twenty in number. Where 

 the crown is complete, and all the ridges are present, the 

 last upper molar ordinarily presents twenty-four ridges, and 

 the last lower about twenty-seven. The posterior ridges in 

 the upper molar are proportionally much less elevated than 

 in the penultimate, the crown in profile, when unworn, pre- 

 senting an outline that is nearly triangular, but prolonged 

 backwards in the last lower molar ; the posterior ridges, 

 besides being very low, have their apices incurved upon the 

 crown, and they diverge towards their bases somewhat in a 

 fan-shaped manner ; while, in the penultimate, the ridges are 

 of a more uniform height from front to rear, and depart but 

 slightly from parallelism in their general disposition. 



As examples may be cited the cranial specimen No. 2662, 

 Cat. Mus. Coll. of Surgeons, which contains the last upper 

 molar in situ, in fine preservation. On the left side the 

 alveolar wall is removed, to expose the tooth, which has a 

 crown composed of twenty-four ridges, of which only the 

 anterior five are worn. The dimensions are : — 



Length of crown, 13'5 in. Height at the sixth ridge, 7'1 in. Width of ditto in 

 front, where greatest, 3'2 in. 



Another last upper, in a more advanced stage of wear, and 

 yielding an excellent illustration of this tooth, is presented 

 by the specimen ~No. 566 of the Cat. of Foss. Mam. Mus. 

 Coll. of Surgeons. De Blainville has given a figure (Osteo- 

 graphie : ' Des Elephants,' tab. 7. fig. 6) of a deformed last 

 upper molar, composed of about twenty-seven ridges. 



Of the last lower molar in the Indian Elephant a longitu- 

 dinal section is represented, half the natural size, by fig. 2 b of 

 PI. I. of the ' Eauna Antiqua Sivalensis.' The entire length 



