E. (EUELEPHAS) PKIMIGENIUS. ]59 



jealous partiality of a discoverer for the earliest results of 

 his most cherished labours. 



The distinctive characters in the molars of the Mammoth, 

 as compared with those of the existing Indian Elephant, npon 

 which Cuvier relied, may be expressed in the following 

 terms : — 



1. Great narrowness or compression and approximation of 

 the crown-ridges, involving both a larger number in the same 

 length of crown and in triturating use at the same time. 



2. Tenuity of, and absence of crimping in, the enamel- 

 plates. 



3. Greater width of the molar-crowns, both absolutely and 

 relatively to their length. 



These peculiarities, when combined, are very constant in the 

 Mammoth. Exceptional cases have been admitted by Cuvier, 

 and adduced by others ; but, when closely examined, they 

 have proved either to belong to other extinct species or to be 

 disguised molars of the existing Indian Elephant. 



Taking the molars of the Mammoth in succession from first 

 to last, they yield the descriptions which follow : — 



a. Upper Milk Molars. — Of the milk molars of the upper 

 jaw, the antepenultimate or most anterior, from its rudimen- 

 tary form, appears to have been shed at a very early period, and 

 it is consequently but rarely observed in situ in the fossil state. 

 It is inferred to have been composed of four ridges, with 

 talons like the corresponding rudimentary tooth of the Indian 

 Elephant. 



The penultimate milk molar (or second in appearance) is 

 much more common, especially in cave collections. I observed 

 in the Taunton Museum no fewer than eight worn penul- 

 timates, upper and lower, in the collection formed by the 

 Eev. D. Williams, from the Mendip caverns. There are several 

 also in Mr. Beard's collection at Banwell, and one in the col- 

 lection of the Geological Society, from Kent's Hole. The 

 displayed part of the collection in the British Museum contains 

 a few examples of this tooth referable to the Mammoth, and 

 it exists also in the collection of the College of Surgeons. 

 The crown, as in the corresponding tooth of the Indian Ele- 

 phant, is composed of seven or eight ridges, with talons. A 

 fine specimen, in the Museum at Taunton, from one of the 

 Mendip caverns, in perfect preservation, with the fangs present 

 and the crown worn, presents seven principal ridges, besides 

 front and hind talons. 



The dimensions are : — 



Length of crown, 23 in. Width of crown at second ridge, 0'9 in. Greatest 

 width behind, 1*4 in. 



From the dimensions it will be seen that the crown is narrow 



