FALCONEll MASTODON AND ELEPHAJfX. 281 



sHperjacent "Elephant-beds" were designated E. antiquus, under 

 the impression that it was the oldest of European Elephants then 

 known. But, on paying a visit afterwards to the Oxford Museum, 

 I found Yal d'Arno specimens in Dr. Buckland's collection, which 

 satisfied me that 1 had made a mistake, and that the " Crag " 

 molars were identical with those of E. meridioncdis. It was too 

 late to correct the error in the published plates ; and it appeared to 

 me that less confusion woold arise from my continuing, in the sub- 

 sequent plates, the nomenclature which I had adopted in the earlier 

 ones, than if altered names were partially introduced, as I intended 

 to give a full correction of the whole in the letter-press. I regret 

 to find that the delay in the publication of this correction has led to 

 a good deal of misconception and to misgiving as to the validity of 

 the species both at home and abroad. I beg leave to explain now, 

 that all the plates bearing the name of E. tneridionalis in the 

 ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis,' including the outline -figures of crania 

 in plate 42, belong to E. antiquus, while those that bear the latter 

 name belong to E. {Loxodon) meridionalis. In the descriptions 

 which follow, they will be cited as such. 



Before entering upon the details of the British specimens of E. me- 

 ridionalis, I think it best to communicate the results of my exami- 

 nation of the Tuscan collections, as the evidence furnished by aU 

 parts of the skeleton is more complete and abundant in them than 

 anywhere else. 



A. Tuscan Specimens. — The Grand Ducal Museum at Elorence con- 

 tains seven crania, or considerable portions of crania, of this species. 

 One of these, a late acquisition, is attached to a mounted skeleton, 

 the trunk part of which is complete, but the extremities wanting. 

 Another specimen consists of a crushed cranium, with the lower jaw 

 attached, containing the three milk-molars, more or less consolidated 

 both above and below, in situ. The first milk-molar is free from wear, 

 proving that the animal must have died, if not in the foetal state, at 

 least very soon after its birth. Another specimen, also of a young calf, 

 shows both maxillaries, with the palate and floor of the nasal cavity 

 entire, the rest of the cranium being Avanting. The two anterior 

 milk-molars in this specimen, and in the corresponding lower jaw, 

 are worn to a degree indicative of the animal having been about a 

 year old. There are five adult crania, indicating by the form of the 

 tusks both sexes. Three of those described by Nesti, of enormous 

 size, are still extant. In another, of a very old animal, the tusks 

 are beautifully perfect. Another specimen, limited to the incisive 

 sheaths, also shows the tusks in their natural position quite perfect. 

 There are numerous lower jaws and bones of the extremities of 

 colossal dimensions, and an abundance of detached molars of all 

 ages and in every stage of wear. These Elephantine molars (in- 

 cluding probably both E. meridionalis and E. (Euelephas) antiquus) 

 Avere so common in the Val d'Arno, near Figlinie, that the peasants 

 were formerly in the habit of using them promiscuously with boulders 

 in constructing the dry stone walls surrounding their fields. The 

 osteological materials available for the determination of the Val 



