StarJc's Elements of Natural History. 169 



telligence and social instinct — the Lemming, well known for its migratory 

 habits — the rat, the mouse, the hamster, the marmot, as well as the squir- 

 rel, the porcupine, and the hare. The peculiarities of these animals are 

 described in notes at considerable length. 



Order seventh, Edentata^ includes the Bradypus or sloth, the ArmadillOj 

 the Echidna, and the Ornithorynchusy the singular anatomy of the two last of 

 which has been so ably illustrated by the dissections of Sir Everard Home 

 and Dr Knox. Order eighth, Fachyderma, divided into three families, viz. 

 Proboscidea, Pachyderma, and Solidangula, includes the largest of quadru- 

 peds, the elephant, the mammoth, and the hippopotamus. We copy the note 

 regarding the first of these : — " The Elephant is the largest of existing quad- 

 rupeds, and has been known from the earliest ages. The Asiatic species is 

 found throughout the whole of Southern India and the neighbouring islands; 

 but though extensively employed it can scarcely be considered as a domestic 

 animal, as it does not breed in captivity. The supply is therefore kept up by 

 the capture of wild ones; and elephant-hunting forms a princely sport among 

 the inhabitants of Asia. The elephant inhabits forests in the neighbour- 

 hood of rivers, and swims with great ease. It is a gregarious animal, and 

 is generally found in herds, sometimes to the amount of hundreds together. 

 Its extreme docility renders it easy to be tamed ; and numerous facts have 

 been related of its sagacity in a state of domestication. The specimen long 

 in Mr Cross's collection at Exeter Change, and which he was forced to kill 

 to preserve the building, was between 10 and 11 feet in height, and weigh- 

 ed by computation between four and five tons. Its daily allowance of food 

 was three trusses of hay, about 200 lbs. of carrots and other fresh vegeta- 

 bles, and from 60 to 80 gallons of water. A strong elephant can carry 

 2000 pounds weight and travel 60 miles a-day ; though in long marches its 

 feet are apt to become tender. The period of gestation is twenty months. 

 At birth the young elephant is about three feet long, and it sucks with its 

 mouth, putting back the proboscis when doing so. It arrives at full growth 

 in about twenty years ; and lives, according to the opinion entertained in 

 India, for three centuries, witnessing the successive rise and decay of the 

 ephemeral generations of men. The tusks, an object of commerce, are 

 changed but once during the life of the animal, but the molar teeth are 

 renewed as often as detrition renders it necessary. These teeth, however, 

 are not renewed in the usual manner, by the new teeth pushing out the 

 old ones, but by a lateral succession from back to front. The most won- 

 derful part of the structure of the elephant is its proboscis, which to it 

 serves all the purposes of a hand ; and while it is able with this powerful 

 instrument to lift the greatest weights, its lip possesses all the delicacy of 

 a finger, and is capable of seizing the smallest substances. — The white 

 variety is rare, and is held in much esteem by the eastern sovereigns. 

 Horace alludes to its exhibition in ancient Rome, Epist. i. B. ii." 



To this division also belongs that very useful animal, the Hog. '^ The 

 fecundity of the hog is very great. A hog belonging to Mr Thomus Rich- 

 dale, Leicestershire, had produced, in the year 1797, three hundred and 

 fifty young ones in twenty litters ; four years before it brought forth two 

 hundred and five in twelve litters ; and in Vauban's opinion in twelve ge- 

 nerations the produce of a single pair would produce as many as Europe 



