THE AVON AND ITS GRAVELS 
237 
2. Elephas antiques. The presence of Elephas antiquus 
amongst the fauna of the low level gravels is in many 
respects interesting. I believe the specimen in my posses- 
sion to be the only good one found as yet in the alluvial 
deposits locally. A small fragment, considered by Pro- 
fessor Boyd Dawkins to be a part of a molar of Elephas 
antiquus, was found in the Victoria gravels some years 
ago by the Rev. H. H. Winwood, but as the height of the 
tooth and width of the crown are such important factors 
in determining the species, the fact that the fragment 
consisted of a small portion of the crown surface only, 
made it difficult of identification. This fragment is in 
the Bath Museum and has not been described. 
Leith-Adams^ records three localities only in the 
south-west of England where the remains of E. antiquus 
had been found, viz., Durdham Downs, the Mendip 
Hills, and Bleadon Hill. In each case the find was 
made in a cavern. 
Up to the year 1844 all remains of elephants found in 
Britain were regarded as those of Elephas primigenius. 
In that year Falconer was impressed by the similarity 
of the teeth from the older formations (i.e. the Norwich 
Crag) to those of the Indian elephant. To this old form 
he gave the name of Elephas antiquus, the molars of 
which more closely resemble those of E. mericlionalis than 
those of E. primigenius. 
There are three types of molars referred to E. antiquus. 
My example is of the “ narrow crown ” variety. 
Leith- Adams thus describes this class of molars : — 
‘‘ The crown is narrow in comparison with the length and 
height. This is apparent in the ‘ broad ’ and ‘ thick- 
plated’ crowns, and is pronounced in the more common 
British specimens, or, in other words, what is named the 
1 British Fossil Elephants Palaeont. Soc. pp. 6, 7. 
See also his map showing distribution. 
