206 B. S. Lull— Evolution of the Elephant. 



in succession by Stegodon hovibifrons and 'S 1 . insignia and finally 

 by the genus Elephas itself. Elephas proved to be a great mi- 

 grant, although the stegodont species had spread from their 

 original homes in the sub-Himalayan region eastward through 

 Burma, China, and Japan and perhaps as far as Java. Elephas 

 later travelled in two directions, westward back to Europe and 

 Africa, and eastward, thousands of miles, into the United 

 States. 



Evidence seems to point to an interesting parallelism in evo- 

 lution between the American elephants and those of Europe, 

 though they were undoubtedly derived from a common ancestry. 



The True Elephants. 



(See Chart 3.) 



Disregarding for the present the hairy mammoth, E. primi- 

 genius, two notable types are found in Europe during Pliocene 

 and Pleistocene times. Of these the more ancient is Elephas 

 meridionalis, probably derived from Stegodon insignis of India 

 and undoubtedly the migratory species over the Persia-Asia 

 Minor route which the remote ancestors travelled in their 

 journey to the East. 



Elephas ' meridionalis ranges from the Ped Crag (Upper 

 Pliocene) to the Lower Pleistocene Forest Beds and from Eng- 

 land on the north to Algeria on the south, though never 

 gaining a permanent foothold in Africa. E. meridionalis is 

 succeeded by E. antiquus, a great form with straight tusks, 

 whose geological range is from the Forest Beds to the Upper 

 Pleistocene. E. antiquus is found in England, central Europe, 

 as far east as the region lying north of the Black sea. In a 

 southerly direction one can trace the course of migration 

 through Italy, Malta, Sicily, north Africa, and across the pres- 

 ent strait of Gibraltar to southern Spain, where specimens 

 have been found at Enropa Point and at Seville. Evidently 

 the Pyrenees proved too great a barrier for a direct migration 

 into Spain, though the invasion was accomplished through this 

 circuitous route. In the islands of Sicily and Malta are found 

 relics of this southern march of E. antiquus, not only remains 

 of the normal species, but of its curiously dwarfed descend- 

 ants, Elephas mnaidriensis, E. melitensis and E. falconeri, 

 the last only three feet high. These types developed through 

 degeneracy after the migration had passed and the line of com- 

 munication was cut off, leaving Sicily and Malta as small islands. 

 The limited area, scanty food aud general hard' conditions were 

 responsible for the dwarfing, precisely as the Shetland ponies 

 have lost the original stature of Equus caballus. In the Mai- 



