308 



OSSIFEROUS CAVES OF MALTA. 



Spratt's investigation had produced. The pigmy Elephant was an ani- 

 mal of remarkably small proportions; an adult individual could not 

 have exceeded the Indian Tapir in height and bulk, a creature not 

 much larger than a full-grown Hog. Contrasted with the bones and 

 teeth of an adult African Elephant the difference in size of these por- 

 tions of its frame exhibited were most striking. 1 But though so small, 

 the skeleton agreed in every particular with the one of greatest bulk. 

 A series of harmonies ran through the two skeletons, one bone answer- 

 ing to another truly, and without ordinal or generic difference. The 

 author could refer it unhesitatingly to his subgenus Loxodon, in the 

 African group of Elephants. Captain Spratt's researches had brought 

 to light many bones, tusks, and teeth, belonging to the young of this 

 pigmy species ; the milk-teeth being about half an inch in length, and 

 the tusks corresponding in age not exceeding an inch in length. 

 Myoxus Melitensis, the fossil Dormouse, the remains of which had 

 been found in the Crendi Cave, 2 was as much a giant among the 

 Dormice as the Maltese Elephant was a dwarf. Other fossil remains 

 found in these remarkable caves were referable to two species of Swan : 

 one of colossal size, probably thrice as large as the bulkiest living 

 species. Many of the bones were gnawed, apparently by a powerful 

 feline animal, but no remains of the carnivore had yet been discovered 

 in association with the cave contents.' 3 



1 The specimens exhibited comprised 

 the molars, tusks, lower jaw, vertebrae, 

 scapula, humerus, pelvis, femur, meta- 

 tarsal bones, and phalanges. — [Ed.] 



See pages 300 and 305.— [Ed.] 

 See page 306, last line. — [Ed.] 



