SIR E. OWEN ON EEMAINS OP ELEPHAS PEIMIGENIUS. 31 



6. ISToTEs on Eemains of Elephas peimigenitts from one of the Cees- 

 WELL BoNE-cAYEs. By Sir EiCHAED Owen, K.C.B., F.R.S.- 

 E.G.S., &c. (Bead November 19, 1884.) 



Ctjviee, in his chapter " Sur les Elephans Eossiles " *, notices a 

 fossil molar tooth discovered at Eouvent as having come from a 

 very young individual and as being '^ une vraie molaire du lait ;" a 

 figure of the grinding-surface is given, of the natural size, in pi. xii. 

 fig. 2. The antero-posterior extent of that surface is 22 millim., 

 the extreme transverse extent is 13 millim. 



The difference of size between the tooth figured by Cuvier and 

 that preserved in the jaw in Mr. Metcalfe's specimen is such as to 

 suggest one of specific value ; but the greater degree of wear to 

 which the Cressweil-cave fossil has been subject, during life, and 

 the inability to compare it with the original of the figure above cited, 

 prevents such conclusion. The second detached molar figured by 

 Cuvier, and noted as a " second molar of a young mammoth," shows 

 no such increase of size : it is stated to have been derived from the 

 environs of Toulouse. 



Subsequent figures and indications of the first and second molars 

 ascribed to Elephas primigenius represent, like Cuvier's, detached 

 teeth or tooth-crowns, leaving it undetermined whether they be from 

 the upper or the lower jaw. 



In the account of the succession of the molar teeth of the existing 

 Indian Elephant, the first molar, upper jaw, has a crown 20 millim. 

 in antero-posterior diameter, 13 millim. transversely; the crown 

 consists of four principal plates and a fifth smaller one, or " talon " f. 

 That the Elephas primigenius had a similar first grinder of the series 

 was indicaied by the socket in the lower jaw, from brick-earth at 

 Ilford, Essex %. A reduced view is given of the crown of the second 

 molar, lower jaw, from Kent's Hole, showing eight transverse 

 plates and a talon §. 



The specimen which Mr. Metcalfe has kindly submitted to me 

 (figs. 1 & 2) is the first I have seen which demonstrates the cha- 

 racters of the first and second upper molars in situ. It is a portion 

 of the fore part of the maxilla, showing the bony palate, with those 

 teeth of the right side ; the corresponding sockets and teeth of the 

 left side are broken away. The two molars have a longitudinal 

 extent of three inches and one line ( = 78 millim.). The worn sur- 

 face of the foremost has a length of 14 millim.; that of the second 

 molar of 50 millim. ; but the entire length (fore and aft) of this 

 tooth is 2i inches ( = 62 millim.), the two hindmost divisions of the 

 tooth not having risen into use. 



* Recherches sm^ les Ossemens Fossiles, ed. 8vo, 1834, tome ii. p. 175. 

 t Odontography, 4to, 1845, p. 632, pi. 148, fig. 2. 

 X British Fossil Mammals, p. 223. 

 § lb. p. 224, fig. 87. 



