624 DR. C. W. ANDREWS OJs T A MAXDIBLE [vol. lxxiX, 



Appendix III. — Note on a Maxbtble of a very Yotjsg Elephas 



ANTIQUUS from C 1 LAL'TOy-0>*-SEA. By CHARLES WlLLIAAt 



Axurews, D.Sc, F.E.S., F.G.S. 



Some time ago Mr. Hazzledine Warren sent to me for examina- 

 tion the anterior portion of the lower jaw of a very young elephant, 

 collected with numerous other Proboscidean remains from Clacton- 

 on-Sea. Unfortunately, the teeth are missing ; hut, since all the 

 other elephant-remains from the same horizon in this locality are 

 referable to ElepJias antiquus, it may be regarded as almost 

 certain that this mandible is that of a foetal or newly-born member 

 of the same species. 



Only the anterior portion of the jaw is preserved, the s^'inphysial 

 region being in an excellent condition : posteriorly the bone is 

 broken away on both sides, a little behind the level of the anterior 

 wall of the alveolus for the penultimate milk-molar. The 

 symphysis is remarkable for its strongly developed beak, the upper 

 surface of which seems to have made a very obtuse angle with 

 the line of the alveolar border of the jaw : but, since this is 

 much broken, the exact relations are not clear. Laterally, the 

 sides of the beak are considerably pinched in ; ventrally, it passes 

 by a concave curve into the rounded and thickened posterior 

 portion of the symphysis, the posterior face of which forms a 

 broad, nearly vertical, spout-like channel. 



The outer face of the mandibular ramus is strongly convex 

 from above downwards ; its upper alveolar border is so much 

 broken that the anterior of the two mental foramina has come to 

 lie at the upper edge of the jaw, and at first sight resembles an 

 alveolus for a milk-molar. Behind this opening the alveolar border 

 widens out, and after an interval of about 18 mm. we find the 

 nearly circular alveolus of the antepenultimate milk-molar (M.rn.2). 

 The root of this tooth was single, there being no indication of 

 bifurcation at the end. H. Pohlig 1 has figured a specimen of this 

 tooth in which, as in our example, the root is single and nearly 

 circular in section ; on the other hand, in a specimen figured by 

 A. Leith Adams, 2 the root bifurcates below, and the upper portion 

 is more or less oval in section and divided by vertical grooves into 

 an anterior and posterior column. Behind the alveolus of the 

 antepenultimate milk-molar, and separated from it by an interval 

 of about 5 mm., is the anterior wall of the empty alveolus of the 

 much larger penultimate milk-molar (M.m.3). Unfortunately, all 

 behind this point is missing on both sides of the jaw. 



The only specimen of the young mandible of Elephas antiquus 



1 ' Dentition & Kranologie dies Elephas antiquus Falc' Nova Acta Acad. 

 Cass. Leop. Car. voi. liii (1889) pi. ii, fig. 5. 



2 ' MonogTaph on the British Fossil Elephants ' 1877-81. pi. i, fig'. 2. 



