no BRITISH POSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



There is an ultimate upper molar in the Woodwardian Museum, possibly that 

 referred to by Ealconer as bearing " all the marks of having come out of the licks of 

 America or a peat-bog in England." If this be the one in question he overlooked the 

 low ridge-forraula of cv 1 8 x, which is contained in 9 X 3 inches. 



Another in the same collection from "Newtgisi, Isle of Wight," holds ct'18 a? in 9x3 

 inches, and contains eight ridges in 4 inches. The enamel is t/iin, but the dentine, and 

 especially the cement, is somewhat in excess. 



Mr. Davies appears to have been the first to indicate so low a ridge-formula as 

 * 19 cT in the Mammoth^ inasmuch as Dr. Falconer had fixed the range between a? 22 a? 

 to iT 26 w, the prevailing number being about twenty-four plates.^ 



The remarkable smallness of the teeth in the Ilford collections, as compared with 

 molars from the opposite bank of the Tliames and its upper portion, is well seen in this 

 member of the series. That the Mammoth which frequented the valley of the river at 

 and below London during the period of the deposition of the Pleistocene brick-earths and 

 gravels should have differed from others in the immediate neighbourhood is scarcely likely, 

 supposing all were living in the district at the same time ; but indeed it would be difficult 

 to prove that they were denizens of the exact localities where their remains are now found. 



There are several remarkably small molars described by Davies, in which only 

 nineteen plates and two talons exist. One is No. 3 of the Brady Catalogue, showing 

 a? 19 ,2? in the small antero-posterior measurement oi eight inches; the maximum breadth 

 of the crown is 3 2 inches 



The cranium (Pis. VI and VII, figs \, \ a) from the same locality represents an 

 aged Mammoth with an ultimate molar, containing the ridge formula of a? 19 x. The 

 posterior portions are partly hidden in the alveoli, but the breadth of the crown is 

 28 inches, and maximum girth of the tusks 24^ inches. The specimen is suggestive, 

 even with reference to the recent species, by showing that, as in them, the largest Elephants 

 do not necessarily present the largest tusks.^ The dimensions of this skull will be 

 referred to presently. 



Several remarkable specimens of true molars were discovered in a peaty deposit at 

 Lexdkn, near Colchester, and are now preserved in the British Museum.* Of these. 

 No. 36,426 is a right and left upper ultimate molar, probably of the same individual. 

 Each holds x 19 x in 9*4 X 28. The former is shown in PI. XIV, fig. 2. 



In all the teeth from the above situation the enamel is very thin, but the cement and 

 dentine are in excess, so that eight ridges are contained in a space of 3^ inches. The 

 disks are more or less crimped, and the specimens are light and present the black 



1 Brady, ' Catalogue,' p. 3. 



2 'Pal. Mem.,' vol. ii, p. 168. 



2 'Livingstone's Travels in South Africa,' p. 5G2 ; Tennent's ' Ceylon,' vol. iv, p. 291 ; Baker, ' Nile 

 Tributaries of Abyssinia,' p. 533 ; 'Albert Nyanza,' vol. i, p. 2/5. 



* A full description of this discovery is given by the Rev. 0. Fisher, F.G.S., in the ' Quart. Journ. 

 Geol. Soc.,' vol. xix, p. 393. 



