File:Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution (1908) (14583813850).jpg

Identifier: annualreportofbo1908smitfo (find matches)
Title: Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution
Year: 1846 (1840s)
Authors: Smithsonian Institution. Board of Regents United States National Museum. Report of the U.S. National Museum Smithsonian Institution. Report of the Secretary
Subjects: Smithsonian Institution Smithsonian Institution. Archives Discoveries in science
Publisher: Washington : Smithsonian Institution
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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ly remains of the normal species, but of its curiouslydwarfed descendants, Elephas m/taidriensis, E. melitensis^ andE. falconeH^ the last only 3 feet high. These types developedthrough degeneracy after the migration had passed and the line ofcommunication was cut off, leaving Sicily and Malta as small islands.The limited area, scanty food, and general hard conditions wereresponsible for the dwarfing, precisely as the Shetland ponies havelost the original stature of Equus cahallus. In the Maltese elephantsthe diminution in size brings the animal helow the stature of theancestral Mo3ritherium, though in no other way is it an atavistictype. Dwarf forms are also found in Crete and Cyprus. An early form of Elephas antiquus evidently gave rise to themodern African elephant through the type known as Elej)has priseiis,included by some authorities in E. antiquus itself. The develop-ment of teeth of E. africanus with relatively few lozenge-shaped 672 ANNUAL EEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908.
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EVOLUTION OF THE ELEPHANT—LULL. 673 ridges seems to be a matter of degeneracy, which casts some doubtupon the vahie of the subgenus Loxodonta. Elephas africanus de-ployed over the whole of Africa with the exception of the SaharaDesert. It also crossed to Gibraltar and spread over most of theSpanish Peninsula. It has since been extirpated, however, in allof the region north of the Sahara. The living Indian elephantexhibits similarity of structure with the E. antiquus, a form knownas Elephas armeniacus, found in Asia Minor, being annectent type.Elephas indicus may have come from Elephas insignis through theLower Pleistocene E. hysudricus, and probably represents a purelylocal evolution, not a migratory form. A most perjDlexing question arises with reference to the origin ofthe great North American elephants, Elephas imperator^ E. colurribi^and finally E. pnTnigenius itself. Emphasis has been placed on thesimilarity existing between the American and European elephants,though I know of

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