56 



THE GEOLOGIST. 



prising ; for the position of Blackdown, near the end of a narrow inland 

 bay, would have been, of all others, the most favourable one for the in- 

 crease of mollusca. — I am, Sir, yours, etc., C. J. A. Meyee. 



Godahning, Surrey. 



Eleplias Texianus v. Columbi. 



Sie, — Reference has already been made by me to the above subject in 

 the pages of the ' Geologist.'* The nomenclature which I have used, and 

 the inferences which I have drawn, having been impugned in an elaborate 

 paper by Dr. Falconer, f a few lines in their justification may be permitted. 



When, in February, 1858, the tooth in question was shown to me by my 

 friend Mr. Bollaert, the most casual observation was sufficient to demon- 

 strate that it was of a different species to the Mammoth {E. p>ri mi genius). 

 In the dearth of published information on the subject I consulted the 

 works of Cuvier,J Humboldt, § Leidy, || De Blainville,® 7 Carpenter,** 

 Lartet,ft and others, and especially the memoir of Dr. Falconer.! \ I en- 

 deavoured in the paper on the Texan Elephant to acknowledge the benefits 

 to proboscidean science derived from his "most complete, elaborate, and 

 philosophical conspectus." 



Upon attempting, with the "Bollaert molar" in my hand, to discover in 

 this memoir any specific description of this form, my efforts resulted in 

 disappointment. Dr. Falconer, in the above-cited memoir, divided his 

 subgenus Euelephas into four divisions. The first he characterizes as 

 having " Colliculi subremoti, adamante crassiusculo." The solitary species 

 belonging to it is the Miocene E. Hysudricus. The second division {Col- 

 liculi approximati, medio leviter dilatati, macharidibus undulatis) includes 

 E. antiquus and E. Namadicus. The third division {Colliculi approxi- 

 mati, machceridibus valde undulatis) includes E. Columbi, E. Indicus, and 

 E. Armeniacus. The fourth division {Colliculi confertissimi, adamante 

 valde attenuato, machceridibus vix undulatis), has for its solitary represen- 

 tative the mammoth {E. primi genius). 



The name E. Columbi has the following notes added to it in Dr. 

 Falconer's Synoptical Table : — 



Geological Age. Country. Remarks. 



Post-pliocene? Mexico. An syn. E. Jackson i? 



Georgia. Sillim. Journ., 1838, 



Alabama. vol. xxxiv. p. 363. 



In the second part of his paper, which was read before the Geological 

 Society on June 3, 1857, §§ Dr. Falconer concluded with a few remarks 

 on the non-existence of E. primigenius south of the Alps, and its restric- 



* Geologist, vol. i\\ p. 470 ; vol. v. pp. 57 and 323. 



f ' On the American Fossil Elephant of the Regions bordering on the Gulf of Mexico 

 (E. Columbi, Falconer), with General Observations ou the Living and Extinct Species." 

 Natural History Review, January, 1S63. 



\ Ossemens Fossiles, ed. 1834, vol. iv. p. 1-15. 



§ Cosmos, vol. i. p. 280. 



|| Nebraska Fauna, p. 9. 



If Osteographie, Elephans, p. 157. 



** Silliman's Journal, second series, vol. i. p. 244. 



ft Bull. Geol. 1859, p. 4fi9. 



%% Quarterly Journal Geol Soc, 1857, p. 319 ; 1858, p. 81. 

 §§ Quarterly Journal Geol. Soc, vol. xiv., 1S58, p. 81. 



