182 ON THE FOSSIL BONES OP rACHVDERMATOUS aUADRTTPEDS. 



pi. 8 ; 9 and 10, pi. 10 ; for the sutures it will be necessary to con- 

 sult fig. 1 and 2, pi. 18; for the vertical section fig. 5, pi. 10 *. 



The very extraordinary and anomalous form of this head is owing, 

 1 st, to the elevation and almost vertical direction of the alveoli of the 

 tusks, and to the height resulting therefrom for the intermaxillary 

 bones. See pi, 18, fig. 1,2 and 3, ab. 2nd. to the corresponding 

 elevation of the maxillary bones, be, at this part; 3rd. to the short- 

 ness of the bones of the nose, d, necessary to the mobility of tlie 

 trunk. 4th. and principally, to the enormous tumor produced at the 

 upper, temporal, and posterior part of the cranium, efg, by the great 

 cells, or the innumerable frontal sinuses occupying in these parts the 

 substance of the bones. This tumor increases considerably vi'ith age, 

 as may be seen on compai'ing fig. 2 with fig. 3. 



The result of these different causes is, that the head of the elephant 

 is more elevated vertically, and in proportion to its horizontal length, 

 than any other head, not even excepting that of man ; that the exterior 

 opening of the nares, instead of being at the extremity of the muzzle, 

 is placed in the middle of the anterior surface ; that this anterior sur- 

 face extends, whilst it inclines very little backward, from the edges 

 of the intermaxillary bones, a, to the occipital ridge, f; that this 

 ridge is raised to the summit of the head; that the occipital foramen, 

 h, is in the middle of the posterior surface, which is also very little in- 

 clined ; that the alse pterygoidese, instead of extending longitudinally, 

 ascend almost vertically. The temple is enormous in comparison with 

 the orbit; but, as may be seen in fig. 7, it does not approximate to 

 the corresponding temple, and there is no sagittal ridge ; the post- 

 orbital process of the frontal bone is short and obtuse ; the arch, 

 k I, is straight and horizontal ; the post-orbital process of the os malse, 

 m, is also short and obtuse, and remains considerably removed from 

 that of the frontal bone : the two enormous alveoli of the tusks remain 

 separated by a deep space, n o, fig. 7 ; the external opening of the 

 nares is very considerable, much more broad than high, protected in- 

 feriorly by two nasal bones, d d, more broad than long, and form- 

 ing in common a sort of mammillary protuberance ; the rest of the 

 anterior surface above the nose, formed by the frontal and parietal 

 bones, is concave in the elephant of India, convex and shorter in the 

 elephant of Africa ; the occiput is vei^y much rounded on the sides, and 

 in the middle of it, a double depression, very deep, in the midst of 

 which may be observed a longitudinal ridge almost similar to the crista 

 galli of the ethmoid bone of some anim&ls : it is here the cervical liga- 

 ment, which is of an enormous size, is attached. The auditory fo- 



* Recourse may also lie had to the figm-es of elephants' heads already puhlished, 

 scil. : Daubenton, ap. Buff., tomexi, pi. v. front view (deface), pi. vi, en dessous, 

 pi. iv, in profile with the entire skeleton, taken from the elephant of Africa ; Pinel, 

 Journ. de Phys., tom. xliii, July 1793, from the elephant of India: Cuvier, Mem. 

 de I'Institut. CI. des Sc. tome ii, pi. ii, from the elephant of India, and pi. iii, from 

 that of Africa ; Faujas, Essai de Geologic, tom. i, pi. xiii, profiles from the two 

 species : Houel, Hist. Nat. des deux elephans du Mus. pi. vii, the profiles, faces and 

 section from the two species: Camper, CEuvres, trad. fr. pi. xx, fig. 1, 3, and 6, 

 from an elephant of India: Spix, Cephalogenesis, pi, vii, fig. 18, from the elephant 

 ^f ladia. 



