penultimate true molar) in my work on Malta[1], from the Lower Limestone.
3. In the notice of the foregoing I refer to a fragment of a jaw with two teeth in situ. This interesting relic, now in the British Museum, was found in Gozo, and might have been lost but for the vigilant eyes of Mr. Wright, who brought it to the notice of Admiral Spratt. It is the specimen examined by Falconer, and which he compared with Halitherium and Listriodon, and has justly referred to the former[2]. The limestone matrix seen on the specimen indicates the uppermost or else the lowermost formation; which, it is impossible to say.
The specimen No. 4085 is a fragment of a left maxilla, about 312 inches in length. The outer table is removed, showing the fangs of the penultimate true molar. Part of the socket of the ultimate molar remains; the penultimate is entire, whilst the antepenultimate has lost a portion of the crown externally. The crown of the last premolar is broken off; and a pit in front indicates the position of the preceding tooth.
The jaw is shown, crown and profile, natural size, in Plate XXV. figs. 3 and 3a. The second true molar is quite unworn, like the preceding specimen. It displays the two ridges with a deep open internal valley and the two pits, one anteriorly and the other on the posterior aspect of the crown. The dimensions of this tooth are as follows:—
| millim. | |
Length including fangs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
34 |
Antero-posterior diameter of crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
20 |
Breadth of crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
21 |
Height of crown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
14 |
4. The broken crown from Mr. Wright's collection (Plate XXV. fig. 4) carries good evidence of the formation in which it was found, being incrusted with a matrix of red sand from the Sand bed in Gozo[3]. The crown-pattern is characteristic; and the tooth is probable a penultimate true molar of the mandible.
5. Several vertebræ covered with clay and crystals of gypsum, together with fragments of ribs, are in the British Museum. They show that they were derived from the marl and nodule seams of the Calcareous Sandstone, whilst the characters assimilate to the same parts of Halitherium, not so cogently, however, as the preceding.
I take this opportunity of correcting a mistake made in my former communication to the Society[4],wherein I state that remains of Dugong are also found in the Maltese rocks. This I have since discovered is
- ↑ Notes of a Naturalist in the Nile Valley and Malta, p. 268.
- ↑ Palæontological Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 304.
- ↑ Professor Owen, as far back as 1843, recognized bones, "apparently of a Manatee," in Admiral Spratt's collections from the Sand bed (Proc. Geol. Soc. London, vol. iv. p. 230).
- ↑ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxii. p. 598; also 'Notes of a Naturalist in the Nile Valley,' p. 265, where I have erroneously included the Manatee and Dugong besides the Halitherium.
