148 



BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



A good representation of a small atlas of the Mammoth is shown in PL XVII, fig. 1. 

 The specimen is from Ilford, 1 No. 45,025, B. M., and has been described by Davies in 

 the Catalogue of the Brady Collection. The dimensions there given are : height 7 '4 

 inches; breadth 13; neural arch 2 X 2*6 inches in width; odontoid fossa 1"7 X 1*9 

 in width; length of the body inferior ly 2' 5 inches. 



The above bone goes hand-in-hand with the other portions of the skeleton of the 

 Mammoth from Ilford, and supports the diagnosis deducible from Davies' description of 

 the teeth of this small-sized race or variety. 



What may be considered a fair-sized atlas of the Mammoth is shown by No. 26,233, 

 B. M., dredged on the Dogger Bank, German Ocean. Its dimensions are as follows : 



Maximum breadth 



15*5 inches 



Maximum height . 



8-8 „ 



Breadth of neural canal 



3-5 „ 



Height of ,, 



3 



Breadth of odontoid canal 



2 



Height of „ 



1-8 „ 



Axis. 



An axis belonging to the skeleton of a Mammoth found in Shandon Cave, Co. 

 Waterford, Ireland, 2 presents the following dimensions : — Height 8'5 ; anterior posterior 

 diameter 4 - 4 inches; vertebral canal 2*4 X 2*3 inches; anterior articular facet 3 X 2*4 

 inches. 



Here, again, the disproportions between the height and breadth of the neural canal in 

 both the Asiatic and Mammoth, and to a less extent in E. antiquus, contrast with the 

 same in E. meridionalis and E. Africanus, which are much alike in these points. As 

 regards the three extinct species, the above characters are shown in PI. XVII, figs. 6, 5, 

 and 4. The anterior articular surfaces will also be seen to present discrepancies, being 

 ovoid and circular ; but, as in the case of the atlas, these may likewise be subject to 

 individual variations ; at all events, the distinctions are worthy of notice, and will be 

 reverted to in connection with E. meridionalis. 



The other cervical vertebras, of which there are several British and Arctic specimens 

 in the British Museum, do not appear to present any characters at all useful for 

 diagnostic purposes. As regards size, like the other bones, they are small in comparison 

 with the same parts in E. meridionalis and E. antiquus. 



1 v%, P- 1C 



2 Adams' "Report on the Shandon Caves," 'Trans. Roy. Irish Acad.,' vol. xxvi, p. 214. This 

 specimen, along with the other portions of the skeleton, is preserved in the Museum of Science and Art, 

 Dublin. 



