GEOLOGY. 



37 



Before quitting the fossil elephants, attention is drawn to Table- 

 case SO, containing the truly remarkable series of Pigmy Elephants 

 from the island of Malta, collected by Rear-Admiral Spratt, R.N., 

 F.R.S., and the late Prof. 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. 6), were represented by one species, 

 which only attained the size of a Shetland pony, and as we have evi- 

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

 old age — it is fair to assume they were a distinct race or 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. 



ORDER VIII. — UNGULATA (Hoofed Animals). 



In Pier-cases Nos. 2 and 3 is arranged the series of remains of 

 the fossil Rhinoceroses. These animals belong to the Order ITngu- 

 lata, or " hoofed quadrupeds ; " all of which are vegetable-feeders; 

 and to the section which is named " uneven-toed " (Perissodactyla), 

 because they all have three toes to the hind-feet. There is only a 

 single living genus, which contains several species. The Rhinoceros 

 is a huge herbivorous animal, with an extremely thick skin, marked 

 by deep folds ; there are seven upper and lower moi&r teeth on 



Fig. 8. — Skull and lower Jaw of Rhinoceros leptorhinus (Owen), from the Pleistocene Brick- 

 earth of the Thames Valley at Ilford, Essex. (See Pier-case 3.) 



each side ; they have no canine teeth, but there are usually incisor 

 teeth in both jaws; they have generally one or two horns, but some 

 of the earlier extinct species were hornless. One horn was fixed on 

 the bones of the snout (nasal bones), the other on the frontal 



