76 
ORIGINAL ARTICLES. 
in Siberia or the Crimea, is strongly presumptive of pliocene beds, 
yielding Elephants of a much more ancient date than the Mammoth- 
yielding gravels of the Urals. The dentition of E. meridionulis , in 
the ridge-formula, is identical with that of the miocene fossil Elephas 
planifrons of the Sewalik Hills, and the characters yielded by the 
enamel-plates and discs of wear, are also closely conformable ; while 
E. Armeniacus, as stated above, approaches nearer to the existing 
Indian species. 
There is another point connected with distribution of fossil Ele¬ 
phants over the European area, to which I am desirous of directing 
the attention of Palaeontologists. I now entertain a strong suspicion 
that remains of E. Armeniacus , or a form closely allied to it, occur in 
Italy. This impression is founded upon specimens which I observed 
in the Natural History Museum of Turin, in the University Museum 
of Pisa, in the private collection of the Marchese Carlo Strozzi, at 
Leghorn, and in those of Professor Ponzi and Signor Ceselli, at 
Home, the satisfactory specific identification of which puzzled me 
greatly. They certainly cannot be referred either to E. meridionalis , 
or to E. antiquus, from the high numerical expression of their ridge- 
formula, nor do they appear susceptible of identification with E. pri- 
migenius , without straining the distinctive characters of that species 
to a degree which is not warranted by our experience of it elsewhere. 
The first which I shall adduce in illustration, are a series of molars, dis¬ 
covered in the Astigiano, during the excavation of the railway-section 
between Alexandria and Turin. One of them is a huge last upper 
molar, right side, in the finest preservation, and half-worn. The 
crown is not quite perfect in front, the portion borne upon the large 
anterior fang having been worn down and broken off. What remains 
of it presents no fewer than twenty-four ridge-plates, including the 
hind talon: and of these the twelve anterior ones are more or less 
worn, the rest being intact. The crown is very broad in front, and 
the plates, where unworn, are very high, as will be seen by the dimen¬ 
sions annexed. The discs of wear are transverse, without mesial 
expansion; they are not so open as in the Indian Elephant, but wider 
than in the Mammoth, except in specimens of the latter, worn low 
down; and they exhibit nothing of the retroflexion of the lateral 
cornua, commonly seen in E. antiquus. The enamel-plates are flex- 
uose in the middle with decided crimping there, which does not 
extend to the sides; they are thicker than in E. primigenius , but less 
so than in E. antiquus. In this respect they resemble most E. Ar¬ 
meniacus and E. Indicus. The space occupied by the twelve discs 
of wear, measured along the summit of the crown, is 7 inches, 
yielding an average of about .6 inch to each, which comes very near 
that indicated above in E. Armeniacus of Khanoos, i. e. .57. 
The principal dimensions are : — 
Length of crown (not quite entire) 13.75 inches 
Extreme width of do. 4.5 „ 
Height of crown at 12th ridge 8. „ 
Space occupied by the 12 discs of wear 7. „ 
