Chap. XVIL LAW OF BATTLE. 257 



though having so short a neck and so unwieldy a body, 

 " can strike either upwards, or downwards, or side- 

 " ways, with equal dexterity." ^^ The Indian elephant 

 fights, as I was informed by the late Dr. Falconer, in a 

 different manner according to the position and curvature 

 of his tusks. When they are directed forwards and 

 upwards he is able to fling a tiger to a great distance — 

 it is said to even thirty feet ; when they are short and 

 turned downwards he endeavours suddenly to pin the 

 tiger to the ground, and in consequence is danger- 

 ous to the rider, who is liable to be jerked off the 

 hoodah.^'^ . 



¥ery few male quadrupeds possess weapons of two 

 distinct kinds specially adapted for fighting with rival 

 males. The male muntjac-deer (Cervulus), however, 

 offers an exception, as he is provided with horns and 

 exserted canine teeth. But one form of weapon, has 

 often been replaced in the course of ages by another 

 form, as we may infer from what follows. With ru- 

 minants the development of horns generally stands 

 in an inverse relation with that of even moderately 

 Nvell-developed canine teeth. Thus camels, guanacoes, 

 chevrotains and musk-deer, are hornless, and they 

 have efficient canines ; these teeth being " always of 

 '* smaller size in the females than in the males." The 

 Camel idae have in their upper jaws, in addition to 

 their true canines, a pair of canine-shaped incisors.^^ 

 Male deer and antelopes, on the other hand, possess 

 horns, and they rarely have canine teeth; and these 

 when present are always of small size, so that it is 



-^ Lamont, ' Seasons with the Sea-Horsis,' 1861, p. 111. 



-^ See also Corse (' Philosoph. Transart.' 1799, p. 212) on the man- 

 ner in which the short-tusked Mooknah variety of the elepliant attacks 

 other elephants. 



"' Owen, ' Anatomy of Vertebrates,' vol. iii. p. 349. 



VOL. II. S 



