20S 
BRITISH FOSSIL ELEPHANTS. 
The extremes of the ridge formula are x 11 x and / Li >v. In one upper it is x 13 x, 
the other being x 14 x. In three lower, perhaps four, it is x 13 x, one has x 14 x and 
another x 11 x. Perhaps, as inferred by Falconer, 1 an additional ridge might be present; 
but the enormous dimensions attained by the larger specimens render it very improbable 
that the formula ever exceeded a; 15 x. The longest molar of which I am cognizant is 13 
inches in length, and the shortest, with the same formula, / 13 x, is 9'4 inches in length. 
As to width I find it ranges from 3 to 4 inches. It is true that the colossal teeth of 
E. antiquus (p. 173, PI. XX, figs. 1 and 2), are much longer, but their plates are 
crowded together, and the lower molars taper very much posteriorly, which condition 
seems to be rare in E. meridionalis. 
Tt is unnecessary to repeat the characters which distinguish the crown of the latter 
from that of the other two extinct species. The only molar with which one is likely to 
confound it is an unusually thick-plated crown of E. antiquus, but the expansion of its 
disc and the pronounced crimping (not, however, invariably present on every disc), 
together with a ridge formula not under x 15 x, will suffice to distinguish such a molar 
from that in question. 3 These comparisons are well shown in PI. XXIV, figs. 1 and 2, 
as compared with the last molars of E. antiquus (PI. V, fig. 1, PI. IV, fig. 1, PI. Ill, 
fig. 1, PI. II, figs. 2 and 3, and PL XX, figs. 1 and 2) on the one hand, and of E. primi- 
genius on the other (PI. VIII, fig. 3, PI. IX, fig. 2, PL XIII, figs. 1 and 1 a, and PL 
XIV, figs. 1, 2, and 3). 
According to the foregoing data the ridge formula of the molar series of E. 
meridionalis will stand as follows : 
Milk-Molars. 
True Molars. 
I. II. 
x3x —-? x 6 x —■ ? 
x3x — 1 x 6 x — ? 
III. 
18 a: — ? 
x 8 x — ? 
IV. 
x8 x — x 9 x 
x 7 x — x 9 x 
V. VI. 
,r 9 x — X 1 1 x x 13 x — x 14 x 
x 9 x — x 11 x x 11 * — x 14 x 
These figures, with the exception of my error referred to in regard to the penultimate 
milk-molar, are substantially the same as were differentiated by Falconer from his 
researches, with additions consequent on discoveries made since his essays were written. 3 
As compared with E.planifrons, whose molars (of all the Sewalik species) come nearest 
to the above in regard to the dental elements and number of plates, the ridge formula, 
according to Falconer, is as follows : 4 
Milk 
:-Molars. 
True Mola 
rs. 
( 
A 
r 
A 
I. 
II. 
IIT. 
HH 
< 
V. 
VI. 
a 3 x 
x 6 x 
x 7 x 
x 7 x 
x 8 x 
x 10 x 
x 3 x 
x 6 x 
x 7 x 
x 7 x 
a; 8 — x 9 x 
x 10 x — x ll x 
1 Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 118. 
8 Page 46. 
8 Op. cit., vol. ii, pp. 118 and 1/6. 
1 Op. cit., vol. ii, p. 91. 
