CORRESPONDENCE, 



50 



I proposed for the Texan elephant are, to a certain extent, neutralized by 

 the fact that in his Synoptical Table, such " geographical names " are re- 

 tained and put forth into circulation, as Ohiuiicus, Blum. ; Eyrenaicus, 

 Lartet ; Andium, Cuvier; Perimensis, Falc. ; Arverncnsis, Croizet and 

 Jobert ; Sivalensis, Falc. ; meridionalis, Nesti ; Afrieanus, Blum. ; lly- 

 sudrious, Falc. j Indicus, Linn. ; Armeniacus, Falconer. It there appears 

 that out of the twenty-eight species of Elejjhas and Mastodon known, at 

 least eleven have names juiven founded on their regional habitats, for four 

 of which names Dr. Falconer is individually responsible. In the same 

 memoir in which he tells us " the distinctive characters of species are com- 

 monly founded on something more intrinsic and tangible," he actually 

 proposes to add another " geographical name " to the list, to denote the 

 pigmy elephant of Malta (E. Melitensis, Falconer). 



Other original observers have alluded to the diversity of species in the 

 American elephants. "It appears that the Mammoth (E. primigenius) 

 ranged quite as far north in America a3 it did in Europe at one time, and 

 indeed much further south (Sir Charles Ly ell's ' Travels in North Ame- 

 rica,' vol. ii. p. 58), if the identification of its remains by the American 

 geologists be a correct one, and there be no other species there correspond- 

 ing to the Elephas antiquus or prisons of Europe."* In the ' Geologist' 

 for April, 18G1, a note appears, by Mr. G-. E. Roberts, on the occurrence 

 of a large elephantine beast in Texas, at the junction of the rivers Guada- 

 lupe and Comal. 



In the recently-published geological text-book of Prof. Dana, it is 

 stated :f "The American elephant ranged from Georgia, Texas, and 

 Mexico on the south, to Canada on the north, and Oregon and California 

 on the west. A tooth was found in ancient alluvium near the Colorado, 

 114^° W. and 35f° 1ST. (Newberry). Parts of one skeleton were dug up in 

 Vermont, at Mount Holly, 1415 feet above tide level. The species ap- 

 pears to have been most abundant to the south, in the Mississippi valley, 

 it preferring a warmer climate than that of E. primigenius. Fig. 837 [la- 

 belled E. Americanus] represents one of the teeth found in the state of 

 Ohio. . . . The elephant in northern North. America, in the British pos- 

 sessions, is supposed to have been the Siberian species." Dana states 

 here, J that the Eh pitas primif/< ni/ts seems not to have gone far south 

 of the parallel of 40°. Dana's figure is 

 copied from a manuscript Palseontolo- 

 gical Report of Warren's Expedition 

 to the Upper .Missouri, by Meek and 

 Hayden. The tooth exhibits twelve, 

 or perhaps thirteen, enamel disks, of 

 which the sixth and seventh show evi- 

 dent traces of the "expansion me- 

 diane" on which Dr. Falconer lays so 

 much stress. I am, however, very 

 doubtful to what species this can be 

 referred. Lartet has already told us: — 

 " Les dernieres publications de M. le 

 professeur Leidy, de Philadelphia, 

 riennent de nous reveler 1'ex.istence 

 dans VA merique du nord d'une faune pliocene, ou Bgurenl one nouvelle 

 espe'ee de mastodpnte (M. mirificus) et an tres-grand elephant (E. impe- 



* Jukes, 'Student's Manual of Geology,' 2nd ed., 8vo, Edinburgh, 1862. 



t Dana, 'Manual of Geology,' 8vo, Philadelphia, l s (io, p. 562. 



j hoc. cit. p. 5(50. 



Elephas America tii's. From Dana's 

 ' Manual of Geology.' 



