THEIE FOOD. 285 



racter which involves the greater width of the molar-crowns 

 in the Mammoth ; if the undulations of the Indian Elephant 

 were unfolded, the crown-plates would in that species be as 

 broad as in the fossil one. Another difference is, that these 

 plates are higher in the Mammoth. In the Texan specimen 

 of an upper molar, mentioned above (p. 229), they attain the 

 enormous height of nearly eleven inches. 



The triturating surface of the crown in the active molar 

 presents another and very significant difference. Instead of 

 the terraced inequalities, seen in the molars of E. Golumbi 

 and E. Indians, as described above, the worn surface in the 

 Mammoth is nearly flat ; the enamel-edges rising but a very 

 little above the ivory and cement. This is a constant cha- 

 racter of Mammoth-molars of all ages and of all regions, 

 whether from the pre-glacial ' Forest-bed ' of the Norfolk 

 coast, from the volcanic gravels around Rome, from the 

 superficial gravels of England, from the frozen soil at the 

 mouth of the Lena, from Eschscholtz Bay, from the swamps 

 of the Ohio, or the prairie lands of Texas. In fact, the 

 normal condition of the molar- crown of the Mammoth 

 resembles that of the Indian Elephant, which has been fed 

 in captivity, but without the distorted arrangement of the 

 plates seen in the latter. This observation, so far as I am 

 aware, has not been made before ; and the fact will explain 

 the reason why I have entered so much in detail into the 

 cause of the unnatural condition in the captive Asiatic 

 species. 1 



What, then, was the nature of the food of the Mammoth ? 

 In speculating on this question, we have for our guidance : — 

 1st, the mechanical properties of the molar crowns as a dis- 

 integrating apparatus ; 2nd, the analogy of the living species ; 

 3rd, the climate and implied vegetation of the habitat of the 

 extinct animal. . 



Eegarcled as an instrument for crunching and contusing 

 the woody fibre and tough bark of trees, the crown qf the 

 molar in the Indian Elephant is manifestly much more 

 powerful than that of the Mammoth. The elements which 

 determine the ratio of force in the comparison are the 



1 Thedistorted condition of the molars 

 of the subjugated existing species is 

 occasionally, although very rarely, seen in 

 the teeth of theMammoth. Afine example 

 is presented by a last true molar of the 

 upper jaw, preserved in the Woodwardian 

 Museum of Cambridge, in which the five 

 last, plates are contorted and crowded on 

 one side. It might servo for tho molar 

 of a Mammoth which had been in bond- 



age to man of the early ' Flint-knife ' 

 period. But a natural cause of tins 

 condition is intelligible, on the supposi- 

 tion that the molar which preceded it 

 was not opposed by a corresponding 

 tooth in the lowor jaw ; a deficiency 

 which is known to occur, from diseaso 

 or accident, both in living and extinct 

 forms. [See antea, p. 169, and vol. i. 

 p. 430.— Ed.] 



