226 BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 



13. FIBULA. 



There is a cast of an enormous fibula (No. 26,724, B. M.) from Cromer Forest Bed. 

 The distal end is shown in PI. XIX, fig. 3, and has been already referred to in connec- 

 tion with that of the Mammoth. 1 



The length is 32*8 inches. 



Girth, midshaft, 5*8 inches. 



Width, distal end, 5" 5 inches. 



Malleolar facet 4*5 (transverse) and 4*5 (height) inches. 



The tibial articulation is not so erect as in the Mammoth, nor so horizontal as in the 

 African Elephant. 



The shaft is broad and flat superiorly, and rounded inferiorly, on its external surface. 



No. 240, Gunn Collection, represents the proximal and distal extremities of an 

 enormous fibula from what Mr. Gunn calls the " Soil of the Forest Bed." The tibial 

 facet is a good deal inclined. The astragaloid aspect is 5 inches in breadth by 4 inches 

 in height, and the entire breadth of the distal extremity is 5" 5 inches. 



No. 256 is nearly an entire fibula from the same situation. Its outer surface is 

 nearly flat and broad, with narrow anterior and posterior sides. The bone is much 

 compressed laterally at its proximal end. The distal articulation is 4*5 inches in breadth. 

 The tibial facet, as in the others, has the articular surface at a low angle ; the dimensions 

 are 3*5x3 inches. 



The variable character of the shaft of the fibula in Elephants in general leaves little 

 for specific characters, but, as regards dimensions, the above amply support the diagnosis 

 as exhibited by the other elements of the skeleton of Elephas meridionalis. 



14. TARSUS. 



Astragalus. — This element of the foot attains to very large dimensions among the 

 relics from the Forest Bed. 



I have elsewhere indicated 2 the chief characters of this bone in relation to that of the 

 Mammoth and recent species. An enormous astragal preserved in the Gunn Collection 

 is 9 X 7 inches in its maximum width and antero-posterior length, 3 with a tibial aspect of 

 6 X 5^ in the a. p. d. diameter. 



No. 254 of Mr. Savin's Collection from the Forest Bed, Overstrand, is 8 by 7 inches 

 in the a. p. d. The tibial facet is 6'4 a. p. d. X 5*5 inches in the transverse direction. 



1 Page 169. 



2 Page 170. 



3 These considerably exceed the dimensions of a Val d'Arno specimen mentioned by Nesti, its length 

 being 0*190 m., and maximum width, 01 63 m. 



