CHANGES OF PROPORTION 



273 



as the mastodon. The psychic and bodily adaptabiUty and 

 plasticity of the Proboscidea to extreme ranges of habitat is 

 paralleled only by the human adaptation to extremes of climate 

 which is achieved through the intelligence of man. The woolly 



Fig. 135. Pygmies of the Hills Compared with the Plainsmen of West Central 



New Guinea. 



From Rawling's Land of the New Guinea Pigmies, by permission of Seeley, Service & 

 Co. — The question arises whether the dwarfing is due to natural selection, to prolonged 

 unfavorable environment, or to abnormal internal secretions of certain glands like the 

 thyroid. It will be observed that the dwarfing is disproportional, the heads being 

 relatively large. Compare the dwarfed sheep and dog in Figs. 119 and 120. 



mammoth (Fig. 131) presents one extreme of proboscidian 

 adaptation, comparable to the Eskimo among human races as 

 superbly adapted to the rigors of the arctic climate, while the 

 hairless African and Indian elephants are comparable to the 

 hairless human races living under the equator. 



