206 FAUNA AMERICANA. 



which is at the same time the seat of smell and 

 touch. They live in troops, at the head of which 

 is an old male or female; they feed on leaves, 

 roots, and fruits ; all food and drink passes from 

 the trunk to the mouth, except during infancy; 

 the young sucking the mother, like other animals, 

 with the mouth; the female is capable of receiving 

 the male at the age of fifteen years ; gestation lasts 

 twenty-two or twenty-three months. 



The young, which is mostly single, sucks for 

 two years ; loosing the milk tusk in about thirteen 

 months, those which succeed grow during the 

 remainder of life ; they begin to cut their milk 

 molars at the end of six weeks, and these are 

 complete in three months; the second molars 

 have appeared at the end of two years ; the third 

 force these out at the sixth year ; the fourth push 

 forwards the third at the ninth year ; the number 

 of lamina? in the tooth increases in the order in 

 which they appear ; the number in each tooth va- 

 ries from four to twenty-three. 



It is probable that the life of these animals en- 

 dures for two hundred years, they having been 

 kept in a domestic state for one hundred and 

 twenty or one hundred and thirty years. They 

 are fond of music. 



Their voice, which is commonly a weak whistle, 

 becomes terrible when they are irritated. 



When domesticated, these animals consume 



