PROBOSCIDEA 423 



quite distinct from the tibia. The feet are short and broad, the 



carpal and tarsal bones being very square, with flattened surfaces 

 for articulation ; the astragalus especially differs from that of typical 

 Ungulates in its flatness, in the absence of a distinct pulley-like 

 articular surface at either extremity, and in having no articular 

 facet for the cuboid. The fibula articulates with the calcaneum, as 

 in Artiodaetyles. Of the five toes present on each extremity (see 

 Fig. 98), the middle one is somewhat the largest, and the lateral 

 ours smallest, and generally wanting (especially in the hind foot) 

 the complete number of phalanges. The ungual phalanges are all 

 small, irregular in form, and late in ossification. The whole are 

 encased in a common integument, with a flat, subcircular, truncated 

 sole, the only external indication of the toes being the broad oval 

 nails or hoofs arranged in a semicircle around the front edge of the 

 sole. The hind foot is smaller and narrower than the front. The 

 liver is small and simple, and there is no gall-bladder. In form 

 the brain resembles that of the Rodents and other lower orders of 

 mammals, the cerebellum being entirely behind and uncovered by the 

 cerebrum, but the hemispheres of the latter are richly convoluted. 



The Proboscidea are exclusively vegetable feeders, living chiefly 

 on leaves and young branches of forest trees and various kinds of 

 herbage, which they gather and convey to their mouth by the very 

 mobile proboscis, an organ which combines in a marvellous manner 

 strength with dexterity of application, and is a necessary compensa- 

 tion for the shortness and inflexibility of the neck, as by it many 

 of the functions of the lips of other animals are performed. By its 

 means the Elephant is enabled to drink without bending the head 

 or limbs ; the end of the trunk being dipped into the stream or 

 pool, a forcible inspiration fills the two capacious air -passages in 

 its interior with water, which, on the tip of the trunk being turned 

 upwards and inserted into the mouth, is ejected by a blowing action, 

 and swallowed ; or if the animal Avishes to refresh and cool its skin, 

 it can throw the water in a copious stream over any part of its 

 surface. Elephants can also throw dust and sand over their bodies 

 by the same means and for the same purpose, and wild animals 

 have been frequently observed fanning themselves with leafy boughs 

 held in the trunk. The species are at present limited in their 

 geographical distribution to the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, but 

 they formerly had a far more extensive range. 



Family Elephantid.*:. 



Cheek-teeth succeeding one another in an arc of a circle, and 

 portions of only two, or at most three, of the hinder teeth in use 

 at any one time. Premolars frecpiently lost, and in any case of no 

 functional importance. 



