ON THE li-OSSIL BONES OF THK ELEPHANT. 



We see by the dimensions given in the text of the memoir of M. 

 Tilesius, of the shoulder-blade which remained attached to the skeleton 

 of Petersburg, that the lower head was ten inches English, or 9", b"^ 

 French, {0,255ra.) at its largest diameter, and that there was the same 

 distance between the point of the acromion, and that of the recurring 

 apophyses. 



2nd. The Fossil Humerus yields, specific characteristics less striking 

 than the shoulder-blade. 



That M'hich is preserved in our Museum (plate 7, fig. 4, f), bears a 

 stronger resemblance to the Indian than to the African species ; never- 

 theless, its lower external crest is sensibly shorter in proportion. 



The canal of the biceps is also narrower in the fossil than in the 

 . Indian species. See plate 7, fig. 3, where the upper heads of three 

 humeri are represented. 



This fossil humerus, which has come from Casan, and which is men- 

 tioned by Daubenton, is, 0,88 in length, which indicates an indivi- 

 dual only eight feet ten inches in height ; and that it was not an adult 

 is plain from the circumstance of the apophysis being still separated. 

 An India.n elephant height feet in height has this bone, 0,S0 in length. 



TVe have in the Museum another fossil humerus, differing but little 

 in size from the former, the precise origin of which we are at a loss to 

 \letermine ; but an upper head of the same bone, which was dug up 

 in making the canal of the Ourcq, being 0,395, in antero-posterior 

 diameter, must have formed part of an elephant from fifteen to six- 

 teen feet in height. 



The humerus of the skeleton discovered by Mr. Adams at the mouth 

 of the Lena, and of which I have given a copy, j)late 16, fig. 13, bis, 

 and 14, was 40 inches English, or 3^ \'' 7^^^ French, (1,18m.) 



M. Targioni Tozzetti, of Florence, is in possession of the head of a 

 thigh 0,34 in width, which must have belonged to an animal twelve 

 feet high. 



3rd. The Fore-arm. — We have at present in the Museum a fossil 

 cubitus, which the late M. Faujas brought a few years since from the 

 quarter where it was found on the banks of the Po. We give it plate 

 \Q, figs. 15, 16, 17 : it is a little more stumpy than that of India, but 

 resembles it in every other particular. 



An estimate of the proportions may be formed by the measures here- 

 unto annexed. The inferior epiphysis is omitted, because it did not 

 form part of the fossil cubitus. 



Length. . . , , , . . . 



Diameter of the articulation 



Distance between the anterior surface, 

 and the extremity of the olecranon. . . . 



Length of the olecranon. 



Breadth of the upper head 



Breadth of the superior head 



Antero-posterior diam.eter of the lower 

 extremit)^ 



VOL. I, 



Fossil 

 Cubitus. 



0,825 

 0,183 



0,310 

 0,205 

 0,25 fi 

 0,142 



0,188 



Indian 

 Cubitus. 



African 

 Cubitus. 



0,630 

 O.llS 



0,590 

 0,112 



0,243 

 0,168 

 0,186 

 0,138 



0,228 

 0,140 

 0,166 

 0,114 



0,151 



0,120 



