FALCONER ON TIIE AMERICAN FOSSIL ELEPHANT. 
51 
Elephant, fossil or recent, in molars of corresponding age, viz., 
adolescent. Something of the same kind is seen in Mr. Bollaert’s 
specimen, as figured in the ‘ Geologist ’ : but in this case, in a minor 
degree, in consequence of the anterior third of the crown having 
been worn away. I believe that this peculiarity in the lower molars 
of E. Columbi is a constant character of the species, and that it bears 
a relation to the converging form of the rami of the jaw, to be 
noticed in the sequel. 
The dimensions of the Mexican molar are : 
Length of crown 7 .4 inch. 
Width of ditto in front 2.3 „ 
Greatest ditto 2.5 „ 
Height of ditto at 8th ridge 4.3 „ 
Space occupied by the 8 anterior discs 4.3 „ 
It is hardly necessary to remark that the characters of the molar 
above described, differ entirely from those of the common form of 
the Mammoth of North America. 
Yon Meyer, in the ‘Neues Jahrbuch’ for 1840, # briefly notices 
some fossil remains of Mastodon and Elephant, contained in the 
Mexican collection of Herr Uhde. Among these are an upper and 
lower molar, of a fossil Elephant, in which the enamel-plates were 
wider apart than in E. primigenius , in this respect having a closer 
resemblance to those of E. proboletes of Eischer de Waldheim, 
which Lartet conjecturally refers to E. meridionalis. The descrip¬ 
tion would agree with that of E. Columbi, from the same region. 
Sir Charles Lyell’s Georgian specimen, from the Brunswick 
Canal, upon which my first knowledge of E. Columbi was founded, 
consists of the middle portion of the penultimate or last true molar, 
probably the latter (m. 3) lower jaw right side, broken off, both 
at the anterior and posterior ends. The fragment comprises ten 
complete ridges, with part of two others, of which the anterior seven 
are more or less worn. All the fangs are broken off, together with 
the basal mass of ivory. The summit of the crown is concave from 
back to front, and the tooth is also concave with a little torsion on 
the outside, and convex inwards, showing that it was considerably 
arcuated laterally, like the specimen last described. The discs of 
wear are of moderate widths as in the Indian Elephant, with a ten¬ 
dency in some of them to expansion in the middle. This is most 
pronounced in the second, where the expansion nearly attains half 
an inch. The plates of enamel are thicker than in the Mammoth, 
and about equal to those of the Indian Elephant; they present a 
considerable amount of parallel shallow plaiting, which is promi¬ 
nently shown where they rise above the level of the cement. The 
wear of the crown takes place in a succession of steps, from the 
* Leonhard and Bronn’s ‘ Jahrbuch,’ 1840. p. 581. 
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