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Show 778 MR. R. LYDEKKER ON A [Nov. 3j readily distinguished by the lower ridges, open valleys, less distinct dentine trefoils, and much smaller quantity of cement. Compared with the large unworn third right upper true molar of M. latidens from the Punjab, figured in plate xxxix. of the first volume of the work cited \ it will be seen that the Borneo specimen agrees in the number of ridges (although the hind talon is considerably smaller), but is of greatly inferior size, the dimensions of the two specimens being as follows, in inches :- Punjab. Borneo. Extreme length 86 6*3 Width of first ridge 4*2 2*95 In plate xxxi. figs. 3, 3a, of Falconer and Cautley's ' Fauna Antiqua Sivalensis' there is figured on a reduced scale part of the right maxilla of an example of M. latidens from Burma (of which there is a cast in the British Museum) exhibiting two molars, which in the description of the plate 2 are provisionally regarded as the last milk- and the first true molar. This determination was accepted by the writer (who had not then seen the specimen) in the ' Palseontologia Indica,' 3 although it was remarked that the form of the second tooth (which carries five ridges and a talon) must, on this view, be abnormal. A comparison of that specimen with the Borneo tooth shows that the second tooth in the former must be likewise the last true molar; and as its dimensions are 5*6 x 2*9 inches, it indicates an individual agreeing very closely in size with the one to which the Borneo tooth belonged. This Burmese specimen is also figured by Clift in the Trans. Geol. Soc. ser. 2, vol. ii. pi. xxxvii. fig. 1, and is one of the types. There is a very similar tooth in the British Museum (no. 37253) from Perim Island. The descriptive part of this paper may therefore be concluded by observing that the specimen under consideration indicates the occurrence of M. latidens in Borneo ; and also that a small race of the species existed both there and in Burma. The smaller race was apparently of rare occurrence in the latter country; and it will be extremely interesting if future finds should show that the island form always belonged to this race. Coming now to distributional considerations, it may be observed that Mastodon latidens occurs in Perim Island in the Gulf of Cambay 4, and thence may be traced 6 through Sind, the Punjab, and the Western Himalaya to Burma ; from which point the present specimen extends its range to Borneo. The present writer has already shown 6 that some of the species of Indian Si^alik stegodont 1 Owing to an inadvertence of the artist the specimen is viewed from the outer instead of from tbe inner side. 2 'Falconer's Pakeontological Memoirs/ vol. i. p 463 (1868) 3 Op. cit. vol. i. pp. 231-232. 1 Specimens in Brit. Mus. 5 ' Palaeontologia Indica,' op. cit. vol.i. pp. 228, 229. 6 Ibid vol. i. pp. 256 et seq., 268 et seq. ; vol. ii.'p. 289 (in this passage Elephas bombifrons is erroneously given for E. insignis) ; and Eec. Geol Surv Ind. vol. xvi. pp. 158-161 (18831 |
