48 THE ELEPHANT. 



wise is so apt to be excoriated ; and he not only waters it, but 

 throws over it dust, grass, straw, &c. 



Although this integument is so thick, it appears neverthe- 

 less to be extremely sensible, especially about the face, the 

 legs, and the under part of the neck and body. We have 

 sometimes seen the young elephant above mentioned, in the 

 Society's menagerie, take a small branch in his trunk, and 

 switch away the flies the moment they alighted on any of 

 those parts. 



The hairs are few and scattered, but are most abundant on 

 the upper part of the head and neck. It is probable that their 

 growth may be excited by the change of climate ; and the 

 young elephants seem more abundantly supplied in this re- 

 spect than the adult. 



We shall return to this subject in a future Number, when 

 we come to speak of the extinct species of elephant which 

 was found frozen in the river Lena in Siberia ; as the skin of 

 this singular animal was found defended with both wool and 

 hair. 



Although the proboscis of the elephant is a continuation 

 of the nose, it is not properly a continuation of the organ 

 of smell, the membrane with which it is lined not being 

 adapted to receive the impressions of odorous particles. In 

 fact, had it been so, it would not have been adapted for its 

 real and more important uses, viz. of conveying the aliment 

 to the mouth, more especially liquids. When he drinks, he 

 draws up the water into his trunk by a kind of inspiration, and 

 having filled the two canals which traverse it, he carries the 

 extremity of it to the back of the mouth, and (the upper part of 

 the windpipe being protected from the current) empties the ca- 

 nals by a violent expiration, and literally blows the water down 

 his throat. Of his mode of taking up solid substances little 

 need be said. If they are very small, they are seized between 

 the finger-like process of the trunk and the opposite flattened 

 part, as between a finger and thumb ; if of larger size, the 

 end of the proboscis is turned round them ; if scattered upon 

 the surface of the ground, he sweeps a larger proportion of 

 his inimitable prehensile organ around them, and assists it 

 by opposing his fore foot to the substances he is collecting in 

 a mass, and thus prevents them receding from the trunk. By 

 means of his fore foot also he strikes up the earth or gravel 

 into a heap, around which he twines his trunk, then changing 

 the curve from the horizontal to the vertical direction, lifts up 

 all that lies on the concavity of the curve, and dextrously 

 flings it over his head. 

 The utility of the domestic elephant is chiefly experienced 



