FALCONER ON THE AMERICAN FOSSIL ELEPHANT. 
45 
figured in the plates devoted to the Elephants, in the ‘Eauna Anti- 
qua Sivalensis,’ a procedure which commonly quashes at a glance all 
doubts as to the specific distinctness, or otherwise, of Elephant 
molars, in critical cases. The section yielded colliculi, showing rather 
thick plates of enamel folded upon cuneiform cores of ivory, of very 
considerable width at their base, and separated by correspondingly 
open interspaces filled with thick masses of cement. These charac¬ 
ters were strongly in contrast with the attenuated, parallel, and pec- 
tiniform disposition of the materials seen in molar sections of A/. 
primigenius; combined with the dilated outline of the ‘ discs of 
wear,’ and the decided crimping in the plates of enamel, they led me 
to regard the form as occupying a place in the series between JE. an- 
tiquus and JE. Indicus , and as differing more from the Mammoth than 
does the latter from the existing Indian Elephant. These facts were 
epitomised, but necessarily in a very condensed shape, hi the ‘ Synop¬ 
tical table of the Species of Mastodon and Elephant,’ appended to 
the memoir which I communicated to the Geological Society on the 
8th April, 1857. # In it, JE. (JEuelephas) antigum, and E. (Eueleph .) 
JVamadicus, respectively Nos. 10 and 11 of the list, are included in 
the group (f) characterized by M Colliculi approximati , medio leviter 
dilatati , machceridibus undulatis while JE, (Eueleph .) Columbi (No. 
12), and JE. Indicus (No. 13) are included in the next group (<y), 
characterized by “ Colliculi approximati machceridibus valde undula¬ 
tis and for the habitat of JE. Columbi are given “ Mexico, Georgia, 
Alabama,” -with a “ Post-Pliocene (?) age.” Thus, the leading points 
of the dental characters, and the precise place in the natural series 
occupied by the species, were distinctly indicated, together with its 
range of habitat along a stretch of nearly 20° of longitude in the 
regions bordering the Gulf of Mexico. 
In my second memoir, on the same subject, communicated to the 
Geological Society on the 17th June, 1857, I entered into further 
details on the fossil Elephant of the Gulf of Mexico, adding that it 
was found in the fossil state along with species of Mastodon , Mylodon , 
Megatherium , JEquus , &c. An epitome of the paper, with these 
statements, is given in Leonhard and Bronn’s 6 Jahrbuch ’ for 1858, 
p. 379 ; and the name JE. Columbi , is adopted by M. Lartet in his 
important memoir, 4 Sur la dentition des proboscidiens Jossiles,’ f 
showing that my determination of the species had not escaped the 
observation of continental palaeontologists. 
After the communication of the memoirs above referred to, in 
which, I believe, the first attempt was made to determine, with pre- 
* Quart. Joum. Geol. Soc. Yol. xiii. p. 319. 
f “ Trois autres proboscidiens ont vecu dans l’Amerique du Nord pendant la 
u periode post-pliocene on quaternaire ; ce sont t’.Elephas Americanus que M. Leidy 
“ considere comme etant distinct de IE. primigenius; IE. Columbi , Falc., des Etats 
“ du Sud et du Mexique, et le Mastodon Ohioticus que quelques auteurs supposent 
“ avoir ete contemporain des premiers hommes qui se sont etablis dans cette region 
“ du globe.” Bullet. Societ. Geol. de France, 1859. 2e Serie, tom. xvi. p. 505. 
