PALCOISTEE MASTODON AND ELEPHANT. 269 



racters to be adduced in the sequel, in proof of the specific distinct- 

 ness of the British fossil Loxodons, which will now be considered. 



4. Eleplias {Loxod.) priscus. — Has the African Elephant ever been 

 found in the fossil state in Europe ? and if so, within what geographical 

 limits ? These are questions of the highest interest, and to which a 

 new kind of importance attaches, from the investigations of some of 

 the later French palaeontologists. In 1821 Professor Goldfuss, of 

 Bonn, published an account, with figures, of a reputed fossil molar, 

 found in the collection of the Canon Mehring, of Cologne, the pre- 

 cise origin of which was not well ascertained. The crown presents 

 seven disks of wear, with the well-marked rhombs, shaped exactly 

 as in the existing African Elephant. The dimensions of the tooth 

 are— length, 5*4 inches, by an extreme width of 2-3 inches, deter- 

 mining it to be a true molar. The specimen is described as being 

 much decomposed ; the crust of cement friable and of an ochre-yellow 

 colour, the ivory greyish white, and the plates of ivory and enamel 

 separated by fissures. In another memoir of a later date, the same 

 author describes other teeth, presenting similar characters, and as- 

 serted to be derived from a diluvial deposit, on the banks of the 

 Eiihr in AVestphalia ; and he affirms that he had seen in other col- 

 lections similar fossil teeth. He inferred that the valley of the 

 Hhine was formerly inhabited by a species of Elephant which more 

 nearly resembled the existing African species than E. primigenius 

 does the existing Indian. But he did not hazard an opinion whether 

 or no it was specifically dififerent from the existing African, which 

 could only be satisfactorily established by the discovery of a skuU, 

 and he named the species provisionally. Cuvier questioned the 

 fossil authenticity of these specimens, and of other instances of the 

 same nature, which he enumerates. In the autumn of 1847 I had 

 an opportunity of examining the specimens above referred to, in 

 company with Dr. Goldfuss, at Bonn. They were much sun-cracked, 

 resembling in this respect grinders of the existing Asiatic Elephant 

 as they are presented in India after long exposure to atmospheric 

 agencies ; but the fracture and texture of the ivory yielded the glis- 

 tening sericious appearance characteristic of recent teeth, and con- 

 veyed to my mind a corresponding impression that the molar was 

 probably of modern origin. 



The celebrated C. E. von Baer describes, with exemplary caution, 

 two reputed fossil molars from the north of Germany, resembling 

 exactly those of the African Elephant. One of those he unhesita- 

 tingly regards as being of modern origin, from the circumstance that 

 some of the cellular membrane lining the alveolus was still preserved 

 upon the tooth*. The other, discovered in the sandy foundations of 

 the monastery of St. Adalbert, near Dantzic, is, from the description, 



* "Quid amplius, tunicse et telse cellulose alveolum vestientis partem in dente 

 siccatam inveniraus. Partes moUes per tot ssecula in nostria regionibus servari 

 posse credat Judaeus Apella ! Nos vero dentem non fossilem suspicamur." He 

 also describes a tooth certainly fossil, but of uncertain origin, in the Museum of 

 St. Petersburg, referring it to JE. priscus (Mem. de I'Acad. de St. Petersbom-g, 

 torn, i., Bulletins Scientif. p. 16). 



" Sic status fossilis testimonia certa non cognoscimus et non habemua quo 

 catalogi assertum confutemus." 



