FALCONER ON THE AMERICAN FOSSIL ELEPHANT. 
69 
in England long before it, or at any rate during the gradual 
refrigeration which preceded that event. 
In the supplement to Sir Charles Lyell’s 5th edition of the 
Manual of (Geology (1857), it was stated on my authority “that there 
“ is no well authenticated example of this species” {E. primigenius) 
“ having ever been met with South of the Alps. The specimens 
“ from Monte Mario, and other localities near Eome, belong, accord- 
“ ingtohim (Dr. E.) to E. antiquus, Dale., and E.meridionalis, JNTesti, 
“ and those in Piedmont and Lombardy to the same two species, 
“ together with Elephas priscus” But this opinion was negatived in 
1858, by the fact that M. Lartet, whose verdict is of the highest 
authority in all that relates to the Proboscidia, identified an unques¬ 
tionable specimen of E. primigenius , received from Professor Ponzi, 
by whom it was discovered in situ , in the volcanic gravel-deposit of 
Monte Sacro.* On visiting Eome in the spring of 1859, I saw 
abundant proofs of the accuracy of M. Lartet’s correction, in the rich 
private collections of Professor Ponzi, and Signor Ceselli, in the 
University Museum of La Sapienza, and Kireher’s collection in the 
Jesuits’ College. The authenticity of the localities was placed 
beyond question, by the volcanic matrix of the specimens, showing 
crystals of Pyroxene and nodules of decomposed Leueite. As this is a 
point of weighty importance in reference to the geographical range 
of E. primigenius , it may be well to adduce some instances of the 
evidence in support of it. The first is a fragment in the collection 
of Signor Ceselli, comprising the anterior two-thirds of an unworn 
penultimate upper molar, presenting nine collines, very attenuated 
and closely compacted, seven of them being presented within the 
space of 3.2 inches, giving an average of about .46 inch to each. The 
enamel very thin, and the digital terminations slender and numerous, 
there being about nine to each colline. This specimen is undistinguish- 
able in its character from a Mammoth’s tooth of the same age from 
Siberia, or an English gravel-bed. It was found in the volcanic gravel- 
bed of Ponte Molle , and the matrix abounds in Pyroxene and Leueite. 
Another is a specimen presenting the anterior half of a penultimate 
lower left true molar, with ten ridges, all more or less worn, within a 
space of 4.5 inches, yielding an average of .45 inch to each. The 
typical characters of E. primigenius are most distinctly shown 
in the thin transverse attenuated plates of enamel, free from any 
tendency to crimping. The matrix is of a fine greyish-yellow sand, 
full of grains of pyroxene. It was found on Monte Sacro, near 
Ponte Nomentano , and is preserved in the museum of La Sapienza. 
The same collection contains several other specimens of the same 
form, of which I find detailed descriptions in my notes. But the 
great mass of the Elephant-molars contained in the collections of 
Professor Ponzi and Signor Ceselli, and in the Eoman museums 
generally, belong to Elephas antiquus , which occurs alike in the older 
* Bullet. Societ. Geologiquc de France, 2c serie, tom. xv. p. 565, 
