E. (EUELEPHAS) INDICUS. 157 



of the crown is about 15 inches, including in all twenty- 

 seven ridges, of which the anterior thirteen are more or less 

 abraded. The first five or six ridges incline a little forwards, 

 while the posterior ridges incline so much in an opposite 

 direction that the hindermost are nearly horizontal, producing 

 the flabelliform character that so readily distinguishes, in most 

 instances, the last lower molar from the penultimate. De 

 Blainville has given, in fig. 6 of PL IX. of his great work, a 

 beautiful representation of a perfect specimen of the same 

 tooth, composed of twenty-seven ridges. Another very fine 

 example of a last lower molar is presented by the specimen 

 No. 557 of the Cat. of Eoss. Mam. Mus. Coll. of Surgeons, 

 there described as being of the Mammoth, but which I regard 

 as being of the existing Indian Elephant, for reasons which 

 will appear in the sequel. The crown is composed of about 

 twenty-seven ridges. In the formula given in the note p. 10 

 of the preceding part, the numbers assigned to the true molars 



in the Indian Elephant are, — - — — - — — =- ; and in the 



14 + 18 + 24 — 27 



definition of the subgenus, the increments in the intermediate 



molars are expressed by 12 + 14 + 18. The formula was framed 



thus to embrace the range of variation in excess which is met 



with in nature, and to eschew the imputation of straining 



facts for a numerical harmony that certainly is not absolute. 



But if the ridge-formula in this species is to be framed 



upon the prevailing ciphers exhibited in a large number of 



teeth, it will run so : — 



Milk molars. True molars. 



4 + 8 + 12 12 + 16+ 24 



4 + 8+12 12 + 16 + 24-27' 



thus presenting two terms of progressive increments, the 

 one ranging from four to twelve in the milk molars, and the 

 other from twelve to twenty- four in the true molars, the same 

 cipher being common to the last milk molar and to the first 

 true molar, in accordance with what is seen in the other sec- 

 tions of the Proboscidea. This last circumstance is that in 

 which my observation on the succession of the molar teeth in 

 the existing Indian Elephant differs most from the results 

 arrived at by previous observers. 



There is no good evidence of the existing Indian Elephant 

 having as yet, anywhere in India or in Europe, been met with 

 in the fossil state. The specimens attributed to it by Trimmer, 

 Mantell, and others, are referable to E. (Euelephas) antiquus. 

 But undoubted fossil remains, now preserved in the British 

 Museum, have lately been found in America, which indicate 

 either a distinct species closely allied to the Indian Elephant, 

 and intermediate between it and the Mammoth, or merely a 



