1857.] FALCONER — MASTODON. 335 



four ridges of which it is composed are seen to he transverse, com- 

 pressed, and composed of a numher of Httle points ; the valleys are 

 open, with the exception of a tubercle in the first and two or three 

 minute tubercles in the last valley, which nowise intercept their 

 transverse continuity. The back talon forms a low transverse free 

 ridgelct, as in M. (Tetrulophodon) latidens of India; while iw M. 

 {Tetralophorhn) Arvernensis the talon-tubercles are huddled to- 

 gether and accrete to the last ridge. 



Sir Charles Lyell, in his 'Manual*,' gives a figure of Mr. Wig- 

 ham's tooth of tlie natural size, in which a very notable character 

 ot' the vonna; molars is well brou2;ht out. The enamel of the mam- 

 millae is seen to be farrowed vertically by numerous deep parallel 

 grooves, presenting the appearance of a reeded column or of a num- 

 ijer of cords pressed close together, and disposed around a thick 

 central axis. The shell of enamel shows as if it were composed of 

 distinct narrow pieces glued together. The same character is at- 

 tempted to be represented by ^ & c of fig. 7, pi. 36. of the 'Fauna 

 Antiq. Siv.,' also of the natural size. It does not occur in the cor- 

 responding young molars of iU. {TetraJophodon) lonf/irostris. The 

 enamel-surface in these is superficially wrinkled and furrowed with 

 numerous irregularities, without however exhibiting the symmetrical 

 fluting observable in the Crag Mastodon. So conspicuous is this 

 character, that I believe that the young teeth of the two species 

 could be distinguished from each other by portions of their enamel 

 alone, occurring mixed in a collection. I would refer to a figure 

 given by Kaup of the dentition of a young Mastodon longh'osti'is 

 in pi. l(i. f. I of his 'Ossements Fossiles,' for the comparison. It 

 is of the natural size, and the last milk-molar may be contrasted 

 with the corresponding tooth of the Crag species figured bv Sir 

 Charles Lyell. It was this character in the young teeth which 

 chiefly led Croizet and Jobert f , in 1828, to propose Mastodon Ar- 

 vernensis as a distinct species. They met with specimens in Au- 

 vergne, mostly of very young animals, of both the upper and lower 

 jaws, in which the last milk-molar was unworn, and they were struck 

 with the remarkable complexity of the crown-ridges, composed of 

 a great number of small wart-like cones, separated by the decur- 

 rent vertical grooves, which we have referred to. But the indicated 

 character was not accepted by Cuvier as of sufficient importance to 

 distinguish the species from his too comprehensive Mastodon angus- 

 tidens. 



Another fine specimen of the last upper milk-molar, from ]\Ir. 

 Fitch's collection, is figured in the 'British Fossil Mammalia' (fig. 

 100, p. 284). Like Mr. Wigham's specimen, the crown is com- 

 posed of four ridges and a talon, with the same complexity of 

 pattern, alternation of the flanking tubercles, and interru])tion of the 

 valleys. It is only necessary to cite it here, as proving the constancy 

 of the characters of the Crag specimens. Prof. Owen describes this 

 tooth as the "fourth upper molar;" wdiile he assigns a different 



* Manual of Element. Geol. 5th edit. 1855, p. 166, fig. 133. 



t Croizet et Jobert, Oss. Foss. du Depart, du Puy-de-D6me, 1828, p. 133. 



