﻿ELEPHAS ANTIQUUS— MILK MOLARS. 



13 



as far as the few instances I have examined, differ materially from the same tooth in 



E. antiquus. 



The ridges in the Asiatic Elephant are ordinarily but not always more numerous ; they 

 are, however, more attenuated than I have seen in similar teeth of E. antiquus. 



It will be apparent from the Table that the ridge formula of x 3 x is often present in 

 all the forms of Elephants I have referred to, and that generally the diagnoses are not 

 likely to be so easily determined as in successional molars. 



Second or Penultimate Milk Molar. 



This member of the milk series varies considerably in dimensions and number of 

 plates ; besides, the crown constituents bear different ratios to one another. A thick- 

 plated crown of unusually large dimensions is remarkably well shown in a specimen, 

 No. 47,408, B. M., from Grays, Essex, where this thick-plated variety is usually met 

 with. The tooth in question holds a? 6 a? in a space of 3*1 inches, and is 1*2 inch 

 in breadth in front, 1*4 inch at the middle, and 1-G inch behind. Only four of the 

 anterior ridges are ground down for a short distance. This upper molar might be fairly 

 placed with the last of the milk series but for its low ridge formula. 



A good example of the tooth is seen natural size, PI. I, fig. 3. It is a lower molar, 

 and also from Grays, but the crown is narrow and holds x 6 * in a space of 2*6 inches. 

 It is No. 18,810 of the Palasontological Collection, B. M. The central expansions, angu- 

 lations (the crown is scarcely sufficiently worn to develop the latter), and excessive 

 crimping on the one hand, the distances between the ridges, and height of crown on the 

 other, are characteristic features of Elephas antiquus. 



Another very good example of this tooth is seen in the fragment of the maxilla con- 

 taining the penultimate milk molar referred to at p. 9. The jaw holds the two teeth, 

 in situ, and is numbered 44,783, B. M. Here there is an entire penultimate molar, 

 showing only a ridge formula of a? 5 x in 2*5 inches, with a maximum breadth of crown 

 of 1*1 inch. Three of the anterior ridges are invaded. The specimen, as before 

 observed, is from the Bright Collection, but its precise locality is unknown, although 

 doubtless from British strata. 



A large lower molar, No. 21,655, B. M., from Grays, Essex, holds a? 7 x in 3 inches, 

 with a maximum breadth (posteriorly) of 1*3 inches. 



Besides the above there are many other excellent examples of this member of the 

 series in the National Collection. 



An upper molar from the Norwich Crag, Easton, Suffolk, holds x 6x in 2-5xl'5 

 inches. The cement has been denuded in part from the plates, laying bare the ruga so 

 plentiful on the enamel of the tooth of E. antiquus, as compared with that of the Mammoth. 



