DENTITION. 225 



The following are the dimensions : — 



Length of fragment, 7 - 8 in. Width in front, at middle of plate, 3-4 in. Height 

 where intact at 7th ridge, 5 - 7 in. 



The above dimensions yield an average of '7 inch to each 

 ridge. The specimen agrees very closely, in every respect, 

 with the corresponding molar of the Indian Elephant, and 

 with the characters of the lower molar, No. 33,218. 



There are other Elephant molars in the Texan series, 

 which belong to a different species, to be noticed in the 

 sequel. 



The late Dr. Warren, in his excellent monograph on the 

 ' Mastodon of North America,' has figured three specimens, 

 selected by him as representing the principal varieties of 

 fossil Elephant occurring in the United States. One of 

 these, of which I possess a cast (op. citat. PI. XXVIII. A. 

 p. 162) is the Alabama tooth, stated to have been found in 

 the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Mexico. It consists of the 

 middle portion of an enormous last upper molar, right side, 

 well advanced in wear ; the anterior part supported on the 

 large front fang had been ground down by use, and the 

 posterior third is wanting. The fragment exhibits eight com- 

 plete ridges and the half of a ninth in front. Of these, 

 the three anterior are worn into continuous transverse discs, 

 which are open, but without mesial expansion. They bear a 

 close resemblance, in general contour and in the sweep of the 

 secondary curves of the enamel-plates, to those of the Bollaert 

 molar described above, as figured in the ' Geologist.' It is 

 difficult to measure the amount of crimping on these plates 

 from a cast. Dr. Warren describes the enamel-edges as 

 slightly undulating; but his figure represents them to be 

 distinctly and closely festooned as in the molars of the exist- 

 ing Indian Elephant. The fourth ridge has the digital 

 terminations semi-confluent into three distinct discs ; the 

 fifth, into four; while the three last ridges are nearly 

 intact. The digitations of the latter are very thick, and do 

 not exceed four or five in number, while commonly, in E. 

 primigenius, they are slender and numerous. In illustration 

 of the difference, I may refer to PI. XXVIII. C. of Dr. 

 Warren's work, representing a huge upper molar of E. pri- 

 migenius from Zanesville, in Ohio, in which the correspond- 

 ing ridges exhibit the ringed tips of ten slender digitations. 

 The cement filling the valleys is partly removed by decay 

 and denuded on the sides of the crown in the Alabama 

 tooth, so that the character is somewhat disguised ; but the 

 discs of wear appear to rise in successive steps as described 

 above of the Darien molar ; bearing in mind that the one is 

 an upper and the other a lower molar. 



VOL. II. Q 



