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BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



The maximum and minimum number of ridges (including talons) individually are as 

 follow in upper teeth : I, 4-5 ; II, 7-8 ; III, 11-12 ; IV, 11-14 ; V, 14-15 ; VI, 17-22. 



In the mandible : I, 5 ; II, 8-10 ; III, 11-13 ; IV, 13-14 ; V, 14-15 ; VI, 17-22. 



The foreign data are not here included, and only such as I have been enabled to 

 confirm by personal examination. Neither are the above advanced as the ultimate 

 possible limits of variation, but only with the view of showing to what extent mutability 

 extends as far as I have been able to find out. As regards the true molars, in particular 

 the ultimate member of the series, it is highly probable that its limits with reference to 

 dimensions and number of laminae might be increased, especially in specimens from 

 Southern Europe and Eastwards. 



The molars of Elephas antiquus taken as exponents of the probable variability in the 

 dimensions of the animal show a pliability in this respect far greater than seems to 

 obtain in either of the living species. With reference to the latter, however, it must be 

 borne in mind that they are restricted to smaller areas, and consequently are less exposed 

 to influencing agencies than was the case with their extinct predecessors. 



The modifications in the molars ascribed to the Elephas antiquus looked on either as 

 sexual, race, or occasional conditions, are sufficiently pronounced to invite the attention 

 of geologists as to their stratigraphical relations. 



As regards the Pre-glacial Deposits of the Eastern Coast, it would seem that the large 

 broad crown has been more commonly discovered there than in other situations, but at 

 the same time both the typical and thick-plated molar has also been obtained to all 

 appearances from the above-named situation. 



In the lower gravels and brickearths of the Thames, all the varieties have been met 

 with, so that, although the evidence is not altogether irrefutable, still it seems likely that 

 the three varieties were contemporaneous. This, however, is a matter for further investi- 

 gation. 



Looking at the extremes of variation in the molars of E. antiquus, it will be observed 

 that the broad crown is of the type of that of E. Namadicus, an Eastern form, 

 and that this modification also approaches E. meridionalis on the one hand and 

 E. primigenius on the other. Again, the divergence from the narrow or what might 

 be named the typical crown, as far as British specimens are concerned, to the thick-plated, 

 is seen to culminate in the disk allied to but distinguishable from that of the existing 

 African Elephant, whilst certain crowns in the crimping of their machaerides greatly 

 resemble those of E. Asiaticus and E. Armeniacus. As to the relations to Elephas 

 antiquus borne by the Maltese forms, the main difficulty is in relative dimensions, and 

 if these be admitted as the result of modifying influences or belonging to a variable species 

 restricted to narrow limits, such as we see to some extent in the continental and insular 

 varieties of the Asiatic Elephant, then the Maltese might be accepted as offshoots or 

 diminutive forms of Elephas antiquus. 



