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ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
are very constant, occasionally exhibits a similar numerical excess 
in the ridges in the last true molar.* 
There is one peculiarity, however, in the molars of the North 
American Mammoth, which is so constant, that I believe in most 
instances, by means of it, they can be discriminated in a mixed 
collection of European, Asiatic, and American specimens, namely, 
that the ridges, and their constituent elements, are more attenuated 
and condensed. For example, in the Museum of the College of 
Surgeons, there is a palate-specimen (No. 620 of Cat.) containing 
the antepenultimate true molar, an either side perfect but well worn. 
On the left side the tooth measures 5 inches long by 2.7 wide, 
and presents the discs of 14 ridges, inclusive of the two talons, being 
an average of but .36 in. to each. A superb specimen of a last upper, 
in the Hunterian collection from Ohio, presented by Hr. Casper 
Winter, (No. 615 Cat.) exhibits 17 discs of wear in a length 
of 7.7 inches, giving an average of .46 to each ridge; while a last 
upper molar from Siberia, presented by Hr. Kogerson, gives an 
average of .54 for each ridge. Taken singly, the difference seems 
inconsiderable, but when uniformly repeated over a length of crown 
comprising sixteen or twenty-four ridges, it is perceptible at a glance, 
and gives a certain amount of distinctive physiognomy to the molars 
of the North American Mammoth. The same character is seen in 
specimens from Eschscholtz-Bay, e. g., in a palate (No. 24,585) 
Paleont. Gallery, British Museum. But I do not regard it as in¬ 
dicating more than a slight geographical variety, as the other 
characters, such as the form of the lower jaw, &c. remain constant 
to the true Mammoth-type. 
It has been asserted, that the kind of molar upon wdiich E. 
meridionalis is founded, occurs not only in England, but as far 
north as Eschscholtz-Bay in Arctic America ; and the figures given 
by Buckland, in the voyage of the ‘ Blossom,’ are cited in illustra¬ 
tion, f But the assertion has arisen from a hasty and superficial 
examination of the specimens. The ivory-cores of the ridges in the 
Elephants, are wedge-shaped bodies, broader at the base and thinning 
upwards. The plane of abrasion intersects these wedges obliquely, 
so that, when far advanced in wear, the discs of the same ridges are 
much wider below, than the width of their base, and than they were 
in an earlier stage at the apex. The Eschscholtz-bay molar referred 
to, is a last true molar, so far advanced in wear, that little more 
than the posterior half of it remains in the lower jaw. In front, 
part is worn down to the base, thus yielding the dilated appearance 
which has been mistaken for the character of E. meridionalis. The 
mandibule which contains it, is preserved in the British Museum, 
exhibiting all the typical characters of E. primigenius. When the 
materials are in a tolerably fair state of preservation, I have hardly 
* On ‘ Mastodon giganteus/ p. 79. 
f British Foss. Mamm. p. 238. 
