FALCONER MASTODON AND ELEPHANT. 299 



tei-istic instances as place the specific identity of the fossils beyond 

 question, and as are accessible for comparison. 



The finest British collection of the remains of this species with 

 which I am acquainted has been gradually accumulated duiing 

 the last thirty years by the Eev. J. Gunn, of Irstead, from 

 sections along the Norfolk coast. The vast abundance in which 

 Elephants' teeth occur upon the " Oyster-bed " of Happisburgh and 

 Mundesley has been long known*. Mr. Gunn, favourably situated 

 to benefit by such opportunities, has taken advantage of his position 

 to the full measure. The interest and value of his collection are 

 only equalled by the liberality with which he makes it available 

 for the ends of science. I need only say in illustration that he has 

 placed all the specimens in his possession at my disposal for this 

 essay, even to be sawn up for sections, if necessary, or for any other 

 use to which they could be turned. Besides a great number of 

 detached molars, Mr. Gunn possesses huge bones of the extremities, 

 an enormous pelvis, and lower jaws, which are only second in pre- 

 servation to the Yal d'Arno specimens. 



In the Norwich Museum there is also a fine series of Elephant- 

 molars from the "Crag" and various points of the coast-section, 

 including both E. mericUonalis and E. {Emlephas) antiquus. The 

 richness of the late Miss Anna Gurney's collection in Elephant-re- 

 mains is well known; and some very fine specimens from the "Crag" 

 are in the possession of Mr. Robert Fitch of Norwich. With a single 

 exception, up to the present time, I have not seen a fragment refer- 

 able to E. mericUonalis that has not been derived either from Norfolk 

 or Suffolk. 



a. Molars. — In the following descriptions of the teeth I do not con- 

 sider it necessary to foUow the strict order hitherto observed of 

 upper and lower, milk- and true molars, according to their respective 

 succession. I shall take the most characteristic specimens first. 



The finest detached molar of this species that has come under my 

 observation is a specimen which was discovered in the " Mammalife- 

 rous Crag" on the Thorpe road, near Norwich, by Mr. Prestwich. 

 The authority of so eminent and accurate a geologist is a sufiicient 

 guarantee for the locality and the formation. It is now lodged in 

 the Museum at Norwich, and is the specimen which fii'st convinced 

 me many years ago that the " Crag" yielded a species of Elephant 

 entirely distinct from the Mammoth and from E. antiquus. It is 

 represented, one-third of the natural size, by figs. 18 and 18 a 

 of pi. 14 B, under the misnomer already exi:)lained, of Elephas 

 antiquus, in the ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis.' It is the last true 

 molar, lower jaw, right side, showing eleven principal ridges, 

 an anterior talon, and a back talon limited to a single thick 



* Periodic storms, during winter, scour the beach, and undermine the cHffs, 

 causing slips. When the detritus is washed away, Mammahan remains are left 

 in abundance upon the shore. The scouring-action of the storm-waves, at times, 

 tears up masses of the " submarine foi'est " and of the " Elephant-bed," in the 

 latter of which the Elephantine remains occur best preserved and in the greatest 

 abundance. 



