PACIIYDERMATA. 171 



the mammae, two in number, placed under the chest. The 

 young suck with the mouth, and not with the trunk. 



But one living genus of the Proboscidiana is known, that of 



Elephas, Lin. 



Or the Elephant, which comprehends the largest of the terrestrial 

 Mammalia. The astonishing nature of his trunk, an instrument 

 at once agile and powerful, the organ of touch as well as of smell, 

 forms a singular contrast with his clumsy aspect and heavy pro- 

 portions; and as this is joined to a very imposing physiognomy, 

 it has contributed to exaggerate the intelligence of these ani- 

 mals. After studying them for a long time, we have not found it 

 to surpass that of the Dog, or of several other carnivorous animals. 

 Naturally of a mild disposition. Elephants live in herds, which are 

 conducted by old males. Their food is strictly vegetable. 



Their distinctive character consists in the grinders, the bodies of 

 which are composed of a certain number of vertical laminae, each 

 one being formed of a bony substance, enveloped with enamel, and 

 cemented together by a third substance, called cortical; in a word, 

 similar to those we have already seen to exist in the Cabiais and 

 other Rodentia. These grinders succeed each other, not vertically, 

 or as our permanent teeth succeed the first ones, but from behind 

 forwards, so that as fast as one tooth becomes worn, it is pushed 

 forward by that which comes after it; hence it happens that the 

 Elephant has sometimes one, sometimes two grinders on each side, 

 or four or eight in all, according to circumstances. The first of 

 these teeth are always composed of fewer laminae than those which 

 replace them. It is asserted that certain Elephants thus shed their 

 teeth eight times their tusks, however, are changed but once. 



The Elephants of the present day, clothed with a rough skin nearly 

 destitute of hair, are only found in the torrid zone of the eastern 

 continent, where hitherto only two species have been ascertained. 



E.indicus, Cuv. ; Buff. XI, i, and Supp. Ill, lix. (The Ele- 

 phant of India.) An oblong head; the crownof the grinders pre- 

 senting transverse undulating fillets, which are sections of the 

 laminje which compose them worn by trituration. This spe- 

 cies has rather smaller ears than the next one, and has four nails to 

 the hind foot. It is found from the Indus to the Eastern ocean, 

 and in the large islands in the south of India. They have been 

 used from the- earliest ages as beasts of draught and burden, 

 but it has hitherto been found impossible to make them propa- 

 gate in a domestic state, although the assertion respecting 

 their modesty and rcpu^j^iaiicc to copulate before witnesses is 



