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BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



hesitated in considering these two Elephants different in any respects, at all events, as far 

 as their dental materials are comparable. 



The general characters of the molars of E. antiquus are differentiated as follows : — 

 The crown is narrow in comparison with the length and the height. This is apparent 

 in the " broad " and " thick-plated " crowns, and is pronounced in the more common 

 British specimens, or, in other words, what is named the " narrow crown." 



There is usually in upper, and almost invariably in lower molars a slight central 

 expansion of the disk with or without a small angular dilatation (Plate III, fig. 1). The 

 crimping or festooning of the enamel varies. It is excessive in many members of the 

 long narrow crown, less so in the thicker plated variety, and often faintly indicated in 

 broad crowns where the disks are packed close together and nearly parallel, with little 

 or no mesial expansion. This latter description of molar has been often mistaken for 

 that of the Mammoth and also of E. meridionalis. It is found with the Forest-bed 

 remains on the Norfolk coast and elsewhere ; indeed, unless in entire teeth there will be 

 a difficulty in distinguishing well-worn fragments of all these forms. The broad crown 

 is, moreover, the characteristic type of E. Namadicus and of many huge molars found in 

 the Tertiary strata of Southern Europe. 



The degree of " crimping," as it has been called, of the enamel on the worn disk, 

 whereby this vertical plaiting presents an uneven aspect, varies very much in different 

 forms of Elephants ; and it is important in estimating the amount of crimping in any 

 one instance to bear in mind that the same tooth will show considerable discrepancies in 

 that respect according to the circumstances whether or not its crown is just invaded and 

 the digitations of the laminae are not ground down, or when half-worn or when nearly 

 worn out. This is at once evident from the examination of a single plate. Again, the 

 central expansion and angulation of the disk will be found also to be affected in the same 

 way, so that only by abundant materials and by fully estimating these points can a 

 satisfactory judgment of the characters of the tooth be formed. 



The crown of the molar of the Elephant, considered in the light of a masticating 

 apparatus, has been fully discussed by Dr. Falconer in his essay on the ' American Fossil 

 Elephant/ 1 



The degree of crimping of the enamel, the thickness, configuration, and number of 

 the laminae, vary immensely in the different forms of elephants. The narrow and fluted 

 disk of the Asiatic, and the wide rhomb-shaped and more sparsely crimped disk of the 

 molar of the African Elephant, represent extremes — modifications of which are displayed 

 by several distinct forms, including that now under consideration. 



It has been asserted by Falconer and others that the fluted crown indicates a 

 graminivorous diet, whilst the broad uncrimped disk suggests arboreal verdure, as 

 exemplified by the African Elephant, 3 and perhaps to some extent these views may be 



1 ' Natural History Eeview ' for January, 1863, and ' Pal. Mem.,' vol. ii, p. 277. 



2 Baker's ' Albert Nyanza,' vol. i, p. 275. 



