24 



Proboscidea and Uyracoidea. 



Pier-case, 

 No. 33. 

 Pier-cases, 

 Nos. 34, 35, 

 and 36. 



Pier-case, 

 No. 30. 



Table-case, 

 No. 16. 



Sections of 



Molar 



teeth. 



Table-cases, 

 Nos. 21, 21a. 



Pigmy 

 Elephants 

 of Malta. 



Pier-case No. 33 contains some British remains of Elephas 

 antiquus ; the rest of the case, and also of Pier-cases Nos. 34, 

 35, and 36, are entirely devoted to the great collection of 

 elephant-remains from the Older Pliocene of the Siwalik Hills, 

 India (figured and described in the Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis) . 

 This series includes more than thirty heads and parts of skulls 

 of extinct species of elephants, besides numerous lower jaws, 

 detached teeth, vertebrae, and limb-bones. For this magnificent 

 suite of skulls, tusks, and teeth of fossil Indian elephants, we 

 are mainly indebted to the late Colonel Sir Proby T. Caixtley, 

 K.C.B., so large a donor of fossil vertebrates to the Geological 

 Department. 



In Pier-case No. 30 are exhibited skulls of the two varieties 

 of the existing Indian elephant, and also a skull of the modern 

 African elephant, together with a series of detached molar 

 teeth of individuals of different ages. Jn the upper division of 

 the case is arranged a fine series of tusks of the Mammoth 

 (JElephas primigenius) from Siberia, from the Dogger Bank, 

 and from various localities in England. 



In Table-case No. 16 is exhibited an instructive series of 

 sections of the incisor and molar teeth of fossil and recent 

 proboscideans (Dinotlierium, Mastodon, and Elephas), illustra- 

 tive of the structure, gradation in form, and varying number 

 of plates or ridges in the teeth of the different species. 



The elephant-remains in the collection from this country 

 comprise the larger number of the specimens, either figured or 

 described by Dr. Leith Adams, F.R.S., in his Monograph on 

 British Fossil Elephants, published in the volumes of the 

 Palaeontographical Society from 1877-81. 



Before quitting the fossil elephants, attention is drawn to 

 Table-cases Nos. 21, 21a, containing the truly remarkable series 

 of Pigmy Elephants from the island of Malta, collected 

 by Rear-Admiral Spratt, R.N., F.R.S., and Professor A. 

 Leith Adams, M.D., F.R.S. These Maltese elephants, which 

 by the form of their grinders are related to the living African 

 elephant (Fig. 16), were represented by one species which only 

 attained the size of a Shetland pony, and as we have evidence 

 of their limb-bones, jaws, and teeth, of all ages — even to very 

 old age — it is fair to assume they were a distinct variety, 

 probably the result of isolation in a limited area where they 

 may have suffered from a scanty supply of food, and so become 

 dwarfed. 



Sub-order 2. — Hyracoidea (Conies). 



Hyrax This sub-order contains a single family of diminutive plan- 



(Conies). tigrade mammals, whose affinities have long been a puzzle to 



zoologists. Formerly placed by Cuvier near to Rhinoceros, they 



