46 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
cision, the nature of the fossil Elephant of the Gulf of Mexico, I 
became acquainted with Mr. Bollaert’s specimen of an adult lower 
molar of the same species of fossil Elephant, from the Brazos Biver 
in Texas, when it found its way into the British Museum : and the 
ground having been thus broken, the attention of Palaeontologists was 
speedily attracted to the subject. 
In September of the following year (1858), Professor Owen, in 
his Address to the British Association at Leeds, while discoursing 
on the geographical distribution of animals, made these remarks :— 
“ Geology tells us that at least two species of Elephant formerly did 
u derive their subsistence, along with the megatheroid beasts, from 
“ that abundant source,” (i. e. the luxuriant vegetation of tropical 
America). “ Nay, more ; at least two other kinds of Elephant {Mas- 
“ todon Ohioticus and Elephas texianus ) existed in the warm and 
“ temperate parts of North America.”* * * § On this occasion, Professor 
Owen gives no authority for the name JE. texianus , although then 
announced for the first time, thus by the established usage in Zoology, 
producing it as his own.f But in the second edition of “ Palseonto- 
logy,” published three years later (1861), in referring to the occur¬ 
rence of the Mammoth in North America, he adds, “ where it existed 
“ not only with the gigantic Mastodon Ohioticus , but also with a 
“ second species of true Elephant {Elephas texianus , Blake) the teeth 
“ of which were adapted to a succulent vegetable diet.”J In a foot 
note to this passage, Bollaert’s Antiquities of S. America, 2nd Edi¬ 
tion,’ is cited as the authority for the second species. The author of 
£ Palaeontology,’ omits on both occasions to notice that I had previ¬ 
ously determined the Elephant of the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, 
under a different and recognised specific name ; and in defence of 
the new name, he cites authority, the existence of which I have failed 
to trace. I have ascertained in writing from the publishers (Messrs. 
Triibner), that no second edition of Mr. Bollaert’s work has yet ap¬ 
peared (August, 1862) ; and on consulting the only impression pub¬ 
lished in 1860, I have been unable to detect the occurrence of the 
name even, of E. texianus , anywhere throughout the volume, or the 
name of Blake coupled with any fossil Elephant therein. The sole 
reference to the Texan Elephant is in a note, professing to be by the 
author, in which he states, that the Elephant-bones occurring in Texas, 
are fossil, and well silicified; adding, “ I have deposited a grinder in 
“ the British Museum, which appears to be of a new species, see my 
“ Paper on Mastodon Bones in Chile. Geological Soc. Journal. 
“ 1857.”§ 
* Report Brit. Assoc. Leeds, 1858, Address, p. lxxxiv. 
f In the Leeds Address, Professor Owen is so scrupulously careful on the score 
of citation, that he gives in a foot-note, the names of the gentlemen to whom we are 
indebted for having collected the Purbeck Mammalia. (Address, p. lxxxix). 
1 ‘Palaeontology,’ 2nd. Edit. 8vo. 1861, p. 395. 
§ Bollaert ‘ Antiquarian, Ethnolog. and other Researches in New Granada,’ &c. 
8vo. 1860, p. 80. There is another statement, contained in a foot-note in ‘ Palaeon¬ 
tology’ which demands an observation from me. In the remarks upon Mastodon 
