MONOGRAPH 



ON THE 



BEITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS 



ELEPHAS PBIMIGENIUS. 



I.— INTEODUCTOEY. 



The vast quantities of remains of the Mammoth, JEleplias primigenius (Blumenbach), 

 discovered of late years in and around the British Islands represent almost every element 

 of the skeleton, and therefore afford sufficient materials for the descriptive osteology of the 

 species. On that account I propose in the following Monograph to describe, first, the 

 Axial, and, secondly, the Appendicular Skeleton. 



The early history of the discovery of Elephantine remains in the British Islands and 

 elsewhere is fully recorded in the works of Cuvier, De Blainville, Bronn, Owen, and 

 Falconer. The confusion and uncertainty, however, arising from the belief in the unity 

 of the species which, with the exception of Falconer, was maintained more or less by 

 these and other comparative anatomists, make many of the records so far valueless, inas- 

 much as wherever the data do not clearly indicate the characters of specimens it must 

 remain doubtful whether they refer to Elejjhas primigenius E. antiquus, or Eteplias 

 meridionalis. 



IL— DISTEIBUTION. 



Remains of Elephas 'primigenim have turned up in many localities in England, and 

 have been found so frequently associated with E. antiquus, that in the absence of proper 

 confirmation I will only enumerate the instances known either to myself or to geologists 

 and palaeontologists experienced in manipulating molars of fossil Elephants. 



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