296 OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF MALTA. 



with the large fang that supports them. The correspond- 

 ing molar of the lower jaw is equally wanting as an entire 

 specimen ; but there are fragments referable to it also. 



Milk-Tusks. — The Zebbug series fortunately includes a very 

 perfect milk-incisor, which confirms the line of specific 

 affinities indicated by the molars. The specimen is repre- 

 sented of the natural size by Plate XL figs. 3, 3 a, and 3 b. 

 It differs from the permanent tusk in having the crown and 

 fang portions distinctly defined. The crown forms an obtuse, 

 flattened, rounded, and irregularly indented body, invested 

 with a thick shell of enamel, and supported on a long cylindro- 

 conical fang, part of which is broken off, near the end. From 

 the diameter of the broken end and of the central canal, it 

 is manifest that at least a third of the entire length of the 

 fang is wanting. The specimen was compared with the cor- 

 responding tooth of a foetal African Elephant belonging to 

 a skull transmitted to the British Museum by Dr. Living- 

 stone, in which the milk molars are quite unworn. The 

 two agree very closely in the dilated blunt form of the crown, 

 the investing shell of enamel and the defined fang. The 

 chief difference detected between them was in the form of 

 the fang, which in the young African Elephant forms a 

 rather short compressed cone, terminating in a sharp slender 

 point ; while in the Zebbug fossil the fang is stouter, more 

 cylindrical, and much more elongated. 



The dimensions of the fragment are : — 



Joint length of crown and fang, 1-4 in. Length of crown, 0-6 in. Width of 

 ditto, 0-4 in. Thieknpss of ditto, 0-3 in. Length of fang portion (imperfect), 09 in. 

 Diameter at the collar, - 3 in. Ditto at broken extremity, 0-25 in. 



These minutiae are given in so much detail, in order to 

 mark the affinity which the Malta fossil bears throughout its 

 dentition to the African Elephant. A shell of enamel has 

 not yet, so far as I am aware, been detected in the milk 

 incisors of any species of the subgenus Euelephas. It occurs 

 in those of the African species, and I have detected it, forming 

 a sheath upon the points of the young permanent tusks of 

 E. insignis, belonging to the group Stegodon. 



Permanent Incisors. — The collection contains numerous 

 fragments of Elephant tusks, for the most part amorphous 

 pieces or splinters of the outer layers, many of them bearing 

 distinct marks of having been gnawed, but indicating tusks 

 of very considerable diameter, and out of all proportion to 

 the small Zebbug molars. These fragments, which appear 

 to indicate another and larger species of fossil Elephant, will 

 be noticed in the sequel. There is only one determinable 

 specimen which will admit of being referred to the smaller 



