ELEPHAS ANTIQUUS—MILK MOLARS. 
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2. MILK MOLARS. 
Ante-penultimate Milk Molar. 
The first milk molar, commonly called the ante-penultimate to distinguish it from the 
theoretical first, a pre-ante-penultimate milk tooth usually suppressed, is not common 
in collections. 
There is a fragment of a left maxilla, No. 44,783, in the Palaeontological Collection 
of the British Museum, 1 Containing the ante-penultimate and penultimate milk grinders. 
The specimen, a late acquisition, was obtained with other elephantine remains by the late 
Mr. Bright from British strata, but the exact locality is unknown. 
The ante-penultimate tooth is half worn; its sides are covered with a dense coat of 
cement, but the crown is entire and shows four ridges, 2 with the disks not sufficiently 
developed by wear to allow of their characters being fully ascertained. The ridges are 
thick, with more intervening cement than attains in the Mammoth. There are two 
fangs, a large posterior and a small anterior, which diverge at the distance of inch 
below the crown. The dimensions of this tooth are given in the following table, and 
reference will be made to the associated penultimate molar in the sequel. 
Another detached unworn upper molar, No. 21,654, B. M., is represented, crown and 
profile, Plate I, figs. 1 and 1 a. It shows no trace of wear, and the fangs are not 
developed, consequently it must have belonged to a sucking calf or uterine individual. 
It is somewhat narrower than the last, and its greatest breadth is behind. The specimen 
is from the fluviatile deposits at Grays, Essex, so prolific in exuviae of the Elephant in 
question. The thickness of the plates, the ruga-, aud vertical ribbing on the enamel 
are diagnostic. 
Two remarkably interesting and highly suggestive lower molars of this stage of the 
dentition -were lately discovered in what are supposed to be pre-glacial deposits 3 in the 
Victoria Cave, Settle, Yorkshire. Both have lost the extremities of their fangs, but 
are otherwise perfect, and appear to have belonged to the same individual. The fang of 
the left tooth being the more entire, I have selected it for illustration at Plate I, figs. 2 
and 2 a. The crowns are narrow in front and broad posteriorly; the penultimate ridge 
1 For the sake of brevity the letters B. M. after a number indicate that the specimen is in the British 
Museum. 
2 The term “ridges ” is applied throughout to all the enamelled laminae of a tooth, including talons. The 
measurements here given, unless otherwise indicated, are in English inches and tenths of an inch. 
3 ‘ Second Report on the Exploration of the Settle Caves;’ ‘ Report of the British Association for the 
Advancement of Science’ for 1874. I am indebted to Mr.Tiddeman, F.G.S., for permission to represent 
the above teeth; he has been also kind enough to permit me to examine the other molars of E. antiquus 
lately discovered in the Settle Caves. 
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