﻿ELEPHAS ANTIQUUS.— TRUE MOLARS. 



43 



left lower molar, and has lost ridges in front and the posterior talon, leaving 14 in 

 a space of 11 inches. The disk is large and like that of the thick-plated variety, but 

 otherwise it is intermediate between B and C Varieties. The ridges are thick, being on 

 an average as much as one inch. Such a tooth as the above contrasts with the long, 

 narrow crown, and bridges over the differences between it and the typical specimens of 

 the thick-plated molars. 



Another reference is made by Ealconer to an enormous tooth found near Turin, 

 which clearly from subsequent studies he found to belong to the so-called E. Armeni- 

 acus} Here it is that confusion creeps in to obscure the Italian history of Elep/ias 

 antiquus, and in the absence of data I do not feel that I can at present clear up the 

 numerous conflicting statements as to the Elephantine molars in collections at Rome, 

 Pisa, Leghorn, &c. Whether the specimens represent the large tooth of A Variety 

 or C Variety, or belong to a distinct species, remains to be worked out. Indeed, 

 the E. Armeniacus seemed to Ealconer to be very closely allied to the existing Indian 

 species. 3 All these and many more points in relation to the southern distribution of 

 EIejj//as antiquus are worthy of the attention of palaeontologists ; indeed, no one was 

 more sensible of the want of conclusive evidence as regards the Italian specimens than 

 Dr. Falconer. 



Affinities. — It is worthy of record that a superb specimen of the palate region, 

 holding two ultimate molars and portions of the alveoli of the incisors, is preserved in 

 the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. Unfortunately there is no 

 note of how the collection became possessed of this highly suggestive relic, but the 

 associated crania render the likelihood of its Indian origin probable, whilst the matrix is 

 seemingly of the character generally noticed on fossils from Central India, 3 therefore it 

 may in all likelihood be a portion of the cranium of E. Namadicus. 



The molars represent the broad-crowned variety of E. antiquus, modified to such an 

 extent that they might almost represent huge grinders of the Asiatic. The anterior parts 

 of the crowns are worn to the common base, with indications of the lost ridges, showing 

 a formula of either a? 16 a? or x 17 so in a length of 12 5 inches. The crowns have a 

 maximum breadth respectively of 3*5 inches, the average per ridge being about 0*6 inch. 

 All the ridges excepting the last four are in wear. The disks are nearly parallel, 

 with no angulations and little mesial expansion, but pronounced crimping of the 

 machserides. 



1 ' Pal. Mem.,' vol. ii, p. 249. 



2 Idem., pp. 250 and 251, note 1. 



3 Considering the interest Dr. Falconer entertained in connection with all discoveries of Tertiary 

 fossil remains from India, it is remarkable that he has not noted, if at all aware of the above, his impressions 

 on this jaw, supposing the cranium in question is from the East Indies; and this is the more strange from 

 the circumstance that he seems to have examined the other skulls, to wit, the cranium of E. Cliftii, in the 

 same gallery: see 'Pal. Mem.,' vol. ii, p. 461, note 2. 



