ELEPHANT AND MASTODON. 21 



to palaeontology by proving the existence of two Indian fossil 

 species, which, through the form and number of the coronal divi- 

 sions of the molars, establish connecting links between Elephas 

 and Mastodon. These he has named M. Elephantoides and M. 

 latidens, and from their examination, he was led, with prescient 

 sagacity, to anticipate the discovery of other forms which should 

 constitute a complete transitional series between the two genera. 1 

 But Mr. Clift, like Cuvier, overlooked the presence of a coat of 

 1 cement,' which is developed in such thickness in one of the 

 species (31. Elephantoides) as to be of functional importance ; 

 and his two nominal species include teeth which appear to belong 

 to several distinct forms. 



The next accession to the species of Mastodon was made in 

 1828, by Croizetand Jobert, who described certain fossil teeth and 

 jaws from Auvergne, under the name of M. Arvernensis. 2 The 

 specimens were chiefly jaw fragments, derived from very young 

 animals, and the species was characterized by these palaeontologists, 

 as distinguished from the true M. angustidens of Cuvier, by the 

 presence of a well-developed front and back ' talon' in each of 

 the molars, and by the greater complexity in the composition of the 

 crown ridges, which are irregularly subdivided into aggregations of 

 small warty cones. 



The observations of Croizet and Jobert were correct, so far as 

 they went, and to them assuredly belongs the merit of having first 

 recognised the distinctness of this much-disputed species, which is 

 most frequently met with in authors under the name applied to it 

 by Kaup of 31. longirostris . But the most essential distinctive 

 character escaped their notice. In the year following the 

 publication of their work, Hermann von Meyer described under 

 the same name a fragment of the upper jaw of a young Mas- 

 todon, from the celebrated deposit of Eppelsheim, containing 

 the three first molars in situ. 3 After considering the characters 



o 

 ' Clift, Geol. Trans. 2nd Ser. vol. ii. p. 369. 



2 Croizet et Jobert, 'Recherch. sur les Oss. Foss. du Depart du Puy-de-D6me,' 1828 

 p. 133. 



3 Hermann von Meyer, ' Ueber Mastodon Arvernensis bei Eppelsheim.' Nov. Act. 

 Acad. Leop. Carol. Natur. Curios. 1829. Vol. xv. p. 113. 



