56 
BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 
the other hand, whilst E. primigenius differs from all other species in having a very 
Inoad and rounded chin, and usually an open expansive gutter, the small rostrum and 
nearly vertical diasteme are in keeping with the foregoing and E. Asiaticus. Again, 
as in the latter, the contour of the border of the ascending ramus behind is circular and 
does not display the parabolic curve observed in the others and also in E. Africanus and 
m E. mendionahs, and apparently in E. Hysudricus. The beak is well develoned in 
Thus A. antiquus with E. Namadicus and to somewhat less extent the Maltese Ele¬ 
phants present similar characters in the lower jaws ; the Mammoth and Asiatic assimilate 
to each other also in some important characters, whilst a clear relationship is maintained 
between the same parts in the E. Africanus, E. meridionalis, and E. Hysudricus. The 
extent of the alveolar margin from the anterior aspect of the ascending ramus to the 
diasteme, both relatively and absolutely, in comparison with the breadth of the ascending 
minus, is apparently greater in E. antiquus, E. meridionalis, E. Africanus, and the 
Maltese forms than in E. primigenius and E. Asiaticus. The deep-rounded chin so 
maiked in the Mammoth is less apparent in E. antiquus ; and, whilst the small rostrum in 
both assimilate, we have it produced in the E. meridionalis and E. Africanus , and some¬ 
times with a downward course. The rostrum varies in size, however, in specimens of 
the lecent Elephants, and may therefore be omitted as characteristic of any one species; 
but I repeat, as regards the configuration generally of the mandible of E. antiquus, E. 
Namadicus, and the E. Mnaidriensis, it seems to me that there is a very close relationship 
between the three. 
3. ATLAS. 
On comparing this bone in the recent and the following extinct Elephants, there does 
not appear much to note of a persistent character in any one species. The contours of 
the neural and odontoid canals present no invariable distinctions; but the foramen for the 
first cervical nerve is seemingly peculiar in certain fossil atlases from Ilford and Slade 
Green, as compared with many specimens from the former situation, and referable to 
E. primigenius. In those exceptional atlases the foramen for the above-named nerve 
opens directly on the side of the arch internally, so that it is invisible on looking down 
upon the neural canal, and this is apparent also in an atlas of the African Elephant, and 
also in the one I have referred to the Elephas Melitensis A In two typical specimens of 
atlases of the Mammoth in the Beechy Collection, British Museum, from the Arctic 
regions, as also m several from Ilford, and many in the Norwich Museum, the foramen is 
quite visible when the bone is placed in the above position, and the same is seemingly 
the case in the Asiatic Elephant. 
1 1 Trans. Zoo], Soc. London,’ vol. ix, pi. xiii, fig. 1 a. 
