﻿ELEPHAS ANTIQUUS— MILK MOLARS. 



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2. MILK MOLARS. 



Ante-penultimate Milk Molar. 



The first milk molar, commonly called the ante-penultimate to distinguish it from the 

 theoretical first, a pre-ante-pen ultimate milk tooth usually suppressed, is not common 

 in collections. 



There is a fragment of a left maxilla, No. 44,783, in the Palaeontological Collection 

 of the British Museum, 1 containing the ante-penultimate and penultimate milk grinders. 

 The specimen, a late acquisition, was obtained with other elephantine remains by the late 

 Mr. Bright from British strata, but the exact locality is unknown. 



The ante-penultimate tooth is half worn ; its sides are covered with a dense coat of 

 cement, but the crown is entire and shows four ridges, 2 with the disks not sufficiently 

 developed by wear to allow of their characters being fully ascertained. The ridges are 

 thick, with more intervening cement than attains in the Mammoth. There are two 

 fangs, a large posterior and a small anterior, which diverge at the distance of inch 

 below the crown. The dimensions of this tooth are given in the following table, and 

 reference will be made to the associated penultimate molar in the sequel. 



Another detached unworn upper molar, No. 21,654, B. M., is represented, crown and 

 profile, Plate I, figs. 1 and 1 a. It shows no trace of wear, and the fangs are not 

 developed, consequently it must have belonged to a sucking calf or uterine individual. 

 It is somewhat narrower than the last, and its greatest breadth is behind. The specimen 

 is from the fluviatile deposits at Grays, Essex, so prolific in exuviae of the Elephant in 

 question. The thickness of the plates, the rugae-, and vertical ribbing on the enamel 

 are diagnostic. 



Two remarkably interesting and highly suggestive lower molars of this stage of the 

 dentition were lately discovered in what are supposed to be pre-glacial deposits 3 in the 

 Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire. Both have lost the extremities of their fangs, but 

 are otherwise perfect, and appear to have belonged to the same individual. The fang of 

 the left tooth being the more entire, I have selected it for illustration at Plate I, figs. 2 

 and 2 a. The crowns are narrow in front and broad posteriorly ; the penultimate ridge 



1 For the sake of brevity the letters B. M. after a number indicate that the specimen is in the British 

 Museum. 



2 The terra " ridges " is applied throughout to all the enamelled laminae of a tooth, including talons. The 

 measurements here given, unless otherwise indicated, are in English inches and tenths of an inch. 



3 ' Second Report on the Exploration of the Settle Caves;' ' Report of the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science' for 1874. I am indebted to Mr. Tiddeman, F.G.S., for permission to represent 

 the above teeth ; he has been also kind enough to permit me to examine the other molars of E. antiquus 

 lately discovered in the Settle Caves. 



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