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BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 
the other short-crowned Elephants. It is, moreover, nearly parallel with the molars in 
the Mammoth and Asiatic Elephant, whereas, according to Falconer, this arch in E. 
meridionalis inclines to that of the molars, at an angle of about 35 0 . 1 The enclosure 
formed by the zygomatic arcade, as viewed from below, is circular in the African and 
ovoid in the Mammoth (PI. VII, fig. 1 a f and Asiatic. 
The outline of the temporal fossa of course varies with the height of the dome. The 
antero-posterior extent, in relation to the vertical height, increasing progressively in 
different species, as stated by Falconer; in other words, the relative differences between 
the two measurements become less as the crown decreases. Consequently there 
must be wide differences in the outline of the temporal fossae of the Mammoth and 
E. meridionalis. In E. Namadicus the contour is like that of the latter, the two 
measurements being nearly equal, whilst that of the Mammoth is rather peculiar (PI. 
VII, fig. 1) as compared with other Elephants, being narrower and converging more to 
an apex at its upper and posterior angle. This feature is observed in other crania 
besides the above, but is not quite so pronounced, 3 which inclines me to believe that the 
compression of the occiput after death has exaggerated the character in the Ilford skull. 
The occipital of the Mammoth (PI. VI) is very large, and although the bosses on 
either side and deep centre for the ligament are not pronounced in the Ilford specimen, 
owing, doubtless in part, to injury and pressure, both are well shown in the Brussels 
skull, the hollow forming a pit large enough to hold the clenched fist. No doubt these 
characters were subject to variations, as observed in crania of the recent species. 4 
The parallelism of the molars in either jaw (PI. VII, fig. 1 a), as compared with that 
in the living Elephants, was considered to be diagnostic of the Mammoth by Cuvier, but 
as Falconer truly observes, the character is not constant. The latter moreover states 
that they invariably converge in young and old of E. meridionalis : 6 indeed such is the 
case, more or less, in all members of the genus. 
Little appears to be known of the basal aspect of the skull of the Mammoth in 
consequence, most probably, of the imperfect condition of the parts in the majority of 
specimens. In the Ilford skull the supports are in the way, irrespective of mutilations; 
the artist, however, has managed to afford a truthful representation of the chief parts in 
PL VII, fig. 1 a. As before stated, the alveolus of the right tusk has been restored in 
the drawing from that of the opposite side, and the left zygoma is also made up from the 
left, which is entire; there are besides restorations of the vault in places, but taken 
1 Op. cit., p. 125. 
2 This is the only part in my friend Mr. Griesbach’s otherwise excellent illustration that is not quite 
true to nature. The outline of the arcade should have been more oval. 
3 Compare the above with pi. viii, fig. 1, and pi. xiv, fig. 2, of the ‘ Ossemens Fossiles,’ which are 
indistinguishable in the contour of the temporal fossa from that of the cast in the Museum of the Royal 
College of Surgeons. 
* ‘Ossemens Fossiles,’ pi. viii, fig. 1. 
6 ‘Pal. Mem.,’ vol. ii, p. 127. 
