ELEPHANT AND MASTODON. 9 



adopted the excessive numerical formula of Corse, this great ana- 

 tomist was led to believe that the successional premolars, instead of 

 being suppressed, are developed behind the milk teeth. The 

 language in which this remarkable opinion is expressed is clear 

 and explicit : — " LTon pourroit dire que les dents de remplacement 

 de l'Elephant viennent derriere ses dents de lait, au lieu de venir 

 dessus ou dessous, comme dans les autres animaux." 1 



The discovery of the entire set of molars in Mastodon Ohioticus 

 by Dr. Hays, 2 in 1834, and in J\I. longirostris, by Dr. Kaup, 8 in 

 1835, had clearly established that the antero-posterior series in 

 these species does not exceed six, and paved the way for an accu- 

 rate knowledge of the dentition of the Elephant, when M. de 

 Blainville published, in 1844, the osteographical memoir upon 

 this genus, contained in his great work. This distinguished 

 Anatomist, in his remarks upon the dentition of the Dugongs, 

 first states that the Elephants (in which he includes the Mastodons) 

 have neither milk teeth nor vertical successional teeth. 4 His 

 words are — " Ainsi Ton peut dire que chez les Dugongs et chez les 

 autres Lamantins, ainsi que chez les Elephants, il n'y a ni dents 

 de lait ni dents de remplacement, comme chez la plupart des autres 

 mammiferes ; celles-ci poussant, pour ainsi dire, celles-la de bas en 

 haut, et formant ainsi deux rangees superposes ; mais que toutes 

 les dents que doit avoir l'animal dans le cours de sa vie entiere 

 forment une seule ligne, un seul rang, un sort de boyau cylindrique, 

 qui se deVeloppe d arriere en avant dans le canal dentaire, dont 

 Tenorme diametre est en partie du a cette particularity C'est 

 quelque chose de semblable a ce qui existe dans les Elephants." 

 This statement is subsequently modified in the portion of the work 

 devoted to the Elephants. M. de Blainville there prefers a claim 

 to having first indicated the normal number, the mode of succession, 

 and the true signification of the molar teeth in this genus. 5 He 



1 Cuvier, Oss. Fossil, torn. i. p. 39, 4to edit. 1821. 



2 Hays, Araer. Phil. Trans, vol. iv. p. 320, 1834. 



3 Kaup, Oss. Fossil, pt. iv. p. 65-89, 1835. 



4 De Blainville, Osteographie, ' Manatus,' p. 75. 



* Loc. cit. p. 58. " Aussi dans aucune ouvrage le nombre normal, le mode de suc- 

 cession des dents molaires de l'Elephant, et leur signification reelle, n'ont pas ete deter- 



