FALCONER ON THE AMERICAN FOSSIL ELEPHANT. 77 
I have detailed notes, of numerous other molars, exhumed on the 
same occasion, from the same locality, St. Paolo, or near it, ‘ Nizza 
della Paglia,’ which yield similar characters. My first notes were 
taken in July, 1856, and in April, 1861, I re-examined the 
materials, the interval having afforded me ample opportunities of 
examining the molars of fossil Elephants, over the European area. 
With the reserve suggested by the fact, that I have not been able 
to confront the originals, or good drawings of them, I have been led 
to identify the ‘ Khanoos ’ and St. Paolo molars as being of the same 
species, E. Armeniacus, and to consider, that they are not referable 
either to E. primigenius or E. antiquus. The same remark applies to 
specimens which I examined along with Prof. Meneghini in the 
museum at Pisa ; to a specimen of which I saw a cast in the posses¬ 
sion of Marchese C. Strozzi, the original procured from the Yal de 
Mugello, an affluent of the Sieve; and to specimens in the pos¬ 
session of Professor Ponzi and Signor Ceselli, from the volcanic gravels 
around Pome. I may further add, that I failed to distinguish from 
the existing Indian Elephant, the last milk molar, from the Grotta of 
San Teodoro, in the lower jaw, figured by my friend Baron Anca 
and that I discovered in the Grotta of Maccagnone, a last upper 
milk-molar, presenting similar characters; neither is reconcileable with 
E. 'primigenius or with E. antiquus. I dwell upon these facts in the 
hope, that the attention of Italian Palaeontologists may be attracted 
to the subject, and that they may follow up the investigation. We 
now possess, through the accurate researches of M. Lartet, con¬ 
clusive evidence that the existing African Elephant formerly ex¬ 
tended its range to Southern Europe ; and it would hardly be more 
unexpected to find that the Indian Elephant, or a form closely allied 
to it, had ranged into Asia Minor and Italy. 
§ 8. Persistence in time of the Distinctive Characters of the 
European Eossil Elephants. 
Having long enjoyed the privilege of intimate intercourse with 
Charles Darwin, I have been for many years familiar with the 
gradual development of his views on the Origin of Species ; and I 
have been included by him in the category of those who have vehe¬ 
mently maintained the persistence of specific characters. My at¬ 
tention has, in consequence, been closely directed to the evidence 
yielded by the Pliocene and Quaternary deposits of Europe in its 
bearing on the question, in so far as the fossil Mammalia are con¬ 
cerned. 
Commencing with the older Pliocene strata of the Subapennines, 
and of the Yal d’Arno, and ascending to the superficial gravels or 
quaternary deposits of comparatively modern origin, at least four 
well defined species of fossil Elephant have been ascertained to have 
* Bullet. Societ. G-eol. de France, 2e Ser. tom. xvii. p. 684, PI. xi. figs. 8 
and 8 a. 
