56 GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



Pier-case most ancient specimens were obtained from the Norfolk 

 33 - Forest Bed and from the Pliocene Norwich Crag. Molars of 

 young individuals, chiefly found in England, are arranged 

 T able-eases j n Table-case 19a. Teeth intermediate between those of 

 2i a> ' E. antiguus and E. africanus occur in northern Africa, and 

 there are remains of dwarf races in the caverns of Malta, 

 Sicily, and Cyprus. The pigmy elephants of Malta (E. meli- 

 tensis and E. mnaidriensis) and Cyprus (E. Cypriotes) are 

 especially interesting, and must have varied from three to 

 seven feet in height when full-grown. A large collection of 

 their remains is exhibited in Table-cases 21, 21a, those from 

 Malta having been collected by Admiral Spratt and Professor 

 Leith Adams, those from Cyprus by Miss D. M. A. Bate. 

 There are also a few jaws and teeth of the Sicilian forms in 

 Table-case 21. It is commonly supposed that these animals 

 were stranded on the islands where- the remains are found 



Fig. 45. — Grinding surface of right second lower molar tooth of Elephas 

 antiguus, from the Pleistocene of Grays, Essex; one-third nat. size. 

 (Pier-case 33.) 



when the Mediterranean assumed its present extent in the 

 Pleistocene period and disintegrated the once continuous 

 mainland. Their small size and innumerable variations are 

 thus ascribed to the struggle for existence on a reduced and 

 unfavourable feeding ground. 



The largest known elephant, apparently allied to the 

 surviving African species, lived during the Upper Pliocene 

 period to the dawn of the Pleistocene in the southern half of 

 Table-case Europe. It was first discovered in the valley of the Arno, 

 20, Italy, and named Elephas meridionalis. A nearly complete 

 skeleton from Durfort, Gard, France, now mounted in the 

 Paris Museum, shows that the animal must sometimes have 

 measured 14 or 15 feet in height. Molar teeth (Fig. 46) and 

 other remains occur in the Norfolk Forest Bed, and a good 

 collection is exhibited with some Italian specimens in Table- 

 case 20. A few pieces are also shown from the Pliocene Bed 



