204 BEITISH AND EUKOPEAN FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



fossil species, according to my observation, in England they 

 would run in the following order. 



1. E. (Euelephas) antiquus. 



2. E. (Euelephas) prhnigenius. 



3. E. (Loxodon) meridionalis. 



4. E. (Loxodon) priscus. 



The teeth of Luelephas antiquus are excessively abundant 

 in the freshwater deposits on the Norfolk coast. Of the 

 two thousand Elephant grinders which Mr. Woodward esti- 

 mates to have been dredged up within thirteeu years, frora 

 the oyster-bed near Happisburgh, I believe that by far the 

 largest number belonged to this species. The next, in point 

 of number, are those of the true Mammoth, from the wide- 

 spread drift and gravel-beds. Teeth of Loxodon meridionalis 

 are much less frequent. They occur in the Norwich Crag, 

 and at Happisburgh and Mundesley. The only inland speci- 

 men attributable to this species which I have as yet met 

 with is the Staffordshire specimen described by Parkinson, 

 and of which there is a beautiful figure in the British Fossil 

 Mammalia (fig. 93, p. 239). Professor Owen, in describing 

 it, states that he had ' seen a very similar molar of the Mam- 

 moth from the Norfolk freshwater deposits, in the collection 

 of Mr. Pitch of Norwich' (he. cit. p. 240). The Elephant 

 remains found so abundantly at Cropthorne, and at Deptford 

 and Eckington, in the Valley of the Avon, and along with 

 bones of Hippopotamus, &c, and freshwater shells by Mr. 

 Strickland, have not yet been precisely determined. Sup- 

 posing the record by Parkinson to be exact, I shall not be 

 surprised if among the Avon remains teeth of Loxodon 

 meridionalis turn up, presenting a case analogous to that near 

 Chartres, already referred to. The rarest species of all is 

 Loxodon priscus, of which only one English locality, namely, 

 Grays Thurrock, is known ; and the specimens which 

 have been found there are all but unique. H this exces- 

 sive rarity be considered as furnishing any grounds for 

 questioning the reality of this extinct species, as distinct 

 from the other, I refer to the parallel case of the solitary 

 molar of Trilophodon Borsoni, found in the Astesan. This 

 form was never confounded with Tetrahphodon Arvernensis, 

 but with Trilophodon Ohioticus of North America. It is now 

 universally accepted by the modern palaeontologists of France, 

 where it occurs in most abundance, although still rare. The 

 presence of Loxodon priscus in British strata is of great 

 interest, and I would recommend it as an object of praise- 



1 Geological Transactions, 2nd ser. vol. iv. p. 555. 



