﻿ELEPHAS ANTIQUUS— FEMUR. PATELLA. TIBIA. 63 



The important distinctions between the proximal extremities in the thigh-bones of 

 the recent species naturally suggest inquiries with reference to the same characters in the 

 extinct forms. In the shorter neck and more shallow digital pit I find an accordance in the 

 femora of E. Africanus, E. Mnaidriensis, and E. Namadicus, whilst the longer neck and 

 deep pit are observable in E. Asiaticus and E. primigenius. There are no materials, 

 however, available by which these characters can be ascertained in the E. antiquus and 

 E. meridionalis. 



10. PATELLA. 



There is a large patella from Grays, Essex, in the British Museum assigned by 

 Falconer to the E. antiquus} and, judging from its massive proportions, it is unlike the 

 bone of the Mammoth ; whilst the abundance of teeth of Elephas antiquus from that 

 situation render it highly probable that the above belongs to this species. 



11. TIBIA. 



A huge left tibia, 48,134, B. M., from Camberwell, Surrey, is 26 inches in length. 

 Compared with a left leg bone of Mammoth, 24,581, B. M., from Eschscholtz Bay, it is 

 relatively stouter, but seemingly does not present any other distinctive character. The 

 concavities posteriorly for the muscles of the ham are pronounced with sharp outer and 

 inner ridges in the Mammoth, whilst in the above specimens it is shallow, and these 

 ridges are not so angular and do not run down the bones with the distinctness seen in 

 several tibiae of the Mammoth, but perhaps a series would show this character to be 

 variable. The more slender proportions of the Mammoth's tibia seem to me the only points 

 by which the two species can at present be safely differentiated. As to other species, 

 the tibia of E. Mnaidriensis is inferred to have been stout in proportion, 2 and, again, it 

 shows an affinity with the above. These characters I found substantiated in tibiae of 

 Elephants from the Norfolk Forest Bed in the Norwich Museum. As to E. meridionalis, 

 there are fragments of huge tibiae in the Norwich Museum, and which might be referred 

 to that species, and no doubt comparisons might be instituted between the recorded 

 tibiae 3 of E. Namadicus in the British Museum. The latter, however, are not at present 

 available for study. 



1 ' Pal. Mem.,' vol. i, p. 494 ; and ' F. A. S.,' pi. lv, fig. 4. 



2 ' Trans. Zool. Soc. London,' vol. ix, p. 62. 



3 ' Pal. Mem.,' vol. i, p. 496 ; and ' F. A. S.,' pi. lvi, fig. 2. 



