ELEPHAS MERIDIONALIS.— DENTITION. 205 



posterior portion is hidden in the jaw. The points of interest in this specimen and which 

 correlate it with the preceding rami from East Anglia are : 



1. The diasteme is somewhat more erect than in them, 1 but by no means so much 

 as in the Mammoth, and the remarkable mandible from Cromer, just described 

 (PI. XXV). The diasteme runs into the beak, 2 which seems to have pointed downwards. 



2. The horizontal ramus does not bulge out along its external border, especially at the 

 base of the coronoid, as is the case in the Mammoth and E. antiquus ; indeed, it repeats 

 what I have just indicated of the preceding jaws from British strata, with the exception 

 of PI. XXV, fig. 1. 



3. The condyles, which are rarely preserved in fossil Proboscidean remains, are present 

 in this specimen, these with the contour of the neck are shown (p. 142, fig. 40). 



4. The comparatively narrow neck, as seen from behind, and the disposition to com- 

 pression of the longest sides of the oval condyle with the thicker end inwards, are features 

 in accord rather with the African Elephant than the Mammoth and Asiatic ; but the 

 condyle is variable as to its contour in the Asiatic, and may have been so likewise in the 

 extinct species. The dental canal is not well defined in the cast, but it seemingly is 

 small, and directed upwards and backwards. The thickness of the jaw at the base of 

 the coronoid is 7 inches, and the height at the commencement of the diasteme is 9 inches. 



The width at the base of the coronoid is 20 inches, and between the condyles 15^ 

 inches. The great breadth of the jaw at the latter is a character shown to be present 

 also in E. primigenius and E. antiquus? 



The crowns of the molars have not been sufficiently impressed on the cast to afford 

 any important data as to sculpturing. The space between them in front is 4 inches, at 

 the middle 3 inches, and posteriorly 9 inches. 



The ultimate molar of E. meridionalis, as met with in Northern Italy, is represented 

 by the following data, recorded by Falconer: — Upper, 4 x 13 x in 11x4*3 inches; 

 x 12 — 13 x. Lower, a? 13 a? in 10-25 X 3*3; x 15 x in 13x43 inches. 



Such are the materials I have been enabled to study referring to the dentition of E. 

 meridionalis. In considering the data by which Falconer established the specific characters 

 of this Elephant, as met with in British strata, I have invariably compared the actual 

 specimens, wherever available, with his lucid descriptions ; and although I have seen 

 cause to differ from him on certain structural conditions, yet considering the often 

 fragmentary materials he had to deal with, it must be conceded that the differentiations 

 he formulated are more or less confirmed by the preceding data. 



1 Fig. 14, p. 136, and fig. 28, p. 139. 



2 Fig. 14, p. 136 ; fig. 28, p. 139 ; fig. 40, p. 142. 



3 Poo-o \A(\ 



Page 140 

 * Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 1 13. 



29 



