24 
BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 
enamel is thin and well crimped; in fact, the grinder is nearly worn out, and the plane of 
detrition passes through the broadest part of the plates, which is ordinarily near the enamel 
reflections. The same will be observed in the section of the other molar from Grays 
Thurrock, 1 No. 39,370, B. M., which, with the above, were‘all the British specimens 
then known to him in connection with the variety of molar now under consideration. 
This interesting tooth is designated by Falconer as “ a last molar, left side of the 
lower jaw.” 3 I cannot, however, subscribe to that opinion, inasmuch as a reference to 
the specimen, or even a glance at the above sections in the ‘ Memoirs ’ or in the ‘ Fauna 
Antiq. Sival.,’ will show a decided pressure mark posteriorly. Indeed, it may be doubtful if 
the tooth has claims to be considered other than a first true molar. Admitting, however, 
it is the second, we have a crown, nearly worn out, with eight ridges in a space of as 
many inches. The disk is wider than in the Norfolk tooth, and evidently the plates 
were relatively thicker than usually attain in lower jaw teeth ; so that the condition is 
not altogether dependent on the state of wear, but, as will appear in the sequel, on a 
variety of tooth which I have named the thick-plated molar , a character seemingly 
common to other extinct species, to wit, Elephas prirnigenius, Elephas Mnaidriensis , and 
E. Falconeri ; 3 and just lately I have been shown by Mr. John Gunn specimens of thick- 
plated molars of E. meridionalis, from the Forest Bed, so that, considered either as a 
sexual or race character, or even an occasional condition, the thicker plate, like the 
central portion of the disk of E. antiquus, is not confined to one species of Elephant. No 
doubt the imperfection of these two specimens misled Falconer a good deal at the time, and 
it was only after he had examined numerous collections on the Continent that he found in 
1863 4 that his so-called Elephas prisons was a form of Elephas antiquus. It is also 
suggestive that on comparing the specimens with the teeth of E. Africanus the resem¬ 
blance was so striking that in his essay he was inclined to consider these molars as represent¬ 
ing the teeth of the African Elephant in a fossil state ; a sufficient indication of the 
variability in the crown pattern of the molar of Elephas antiquus. 
Foreign specimens.— Dr. Falconer describes a portion of a skull, including the last 
milk, first true molar, and the penultimate in germ behind, from Monte Yerdi at Rome. 
The first true molar holds x 10 x in 55 inches. He also refers to a well-worn lower 
molar with ten plates in 5’7 inches from the same locality. 5 The former is assuredly a 
small first true molar, and interesting as regards the Maltese pygmies; but, as will be 
shown presently, such an exception is rare with Elephas antiquus as met with in Italian 
deposits, more especially in connection with the two last members of the dental series. 
An injured upper molar, No. 32,539, B. M., from Champagne holds ten and a half 
1 ‘ Pal. Mem.,’ pi. vii, fig. 2, and ‘ F. A. S.,’ pi. xiv, fig. 7. 
2 ‘Pal. Mem.,’ ii, p. 96. 
3 Dentition and Osteology of the Maltese fossil Elephants, ‘ Trans. Zool. Society,’ vol. ix, pp. 6 and 35. 
4 ‘ Pal. Mem.,’ vol. ii, p. 251 (footnote). 
5 Ibid., vol. ii, pp. 181 and 183. 
