ELEPHAS PRIMIGENIUS.— MOLARS. 173 



MOLARS OF ELEPHAS PBIMIGENIUS RECENTLY DUG OUT OF THE 



FOREST BED. 



Since the publication of the last portion of this Monograph on the dentition and 

 scapula of the Mammoth, I have examined at Cromer several molars in the possession of 

 Mr. Savin, junr. These teeth, I am assured, were dug out of the Forest Bed at Over- 

 strand, near Cromer, 1 by his father and himself. 



The entire and more important specimens of Mr. Savin's gatherings are — 



1. A second or penultimate left lower milk-molar, No. 2 of the Collection. It holds 

 a? 6 x in 25 X 1'4 inches. All the plates are well worn. There is very fine crimping of 

 the machserides, and the spaces between the discs are somewhat wider than ordinarily 

 appears in Mammoth molars, with a slight tendency to central expansion. Taking the 

 characters, however, generally, the tooth is undistinguishable from the generality of the 

 same member of the series in E. primigenius. 



Admitting the objections to milk-molars generally as suitable for diagnostic purposes, 

 as formerly indicated, the above, per se, might be doubted, but the following, I think, 

 may be considered as affording more conclusive evidences. 



2. A left upper first true molar, the crown and profile views of which, natural size, 

 are shown in PI. XXI, figs. 1 and 1 a, was removed from the pebbly stratum of the 

 Forest Bed at Overstrand, Cromer, by Mr. Savin. The hardened matrix is still 

 seen adhering to its sides (fig. 1 a). It is No. 195 of Mr. Savin's Collection, and holds 

 a? 11 a? in 5*4 X 25 inches, and five ridges in a space of 2*4 inches. The height of the 

 ninth ridge is 3*8 and of the tenth 4*1 inches, and the eleventh is 4*2 inches. All the 

 ridges, with the exception of the posterior talon, are in wear, and the crown (fig. 1) shows 

 the sculp turings very distinctly, although the discs are not fully developed by wear. 



The plates are crowded, with no tendency to mesial expansion and angulation of the 

 enamel, as often seen in the broad-crowned variety of E. antiquus. There is, however, 

 decided crimping of the enamel in the anterior discs, as occasionally appears in undoubted 

 molars of the Mammoth. 2 Had this tooth been found in Post-Pliocene strata, no com- 

 petent authority would hesitate in pronouncing it to have belonged to the latter species. 

 The crown shows rather thin enamel as compared with the Ilford molars, and it is not so 

 attenuated as in many Arctic and British specimens. The breadth to the height is 



1 Mr. Savin deserves the thanks of palaeontologists for the zeal with which he prosecutes his 

 searches after the fossil animal remains along the neighbouring coast. I am, moreover, under obligations 

 to Mr. Savin for his invariable kindness in permitting me to make use of his specimens for illustration 

 or description. 



2 See Plates XI, XIII, and XIV. 



