THE ELEPHANT 



127 



well-known species. The African elephant (Fig. 106) is 

 the largest, and ranges equatorial Africa. They attain a 



Fig. 106. — The African Elephant. 



weight of three tons, and have a long proboscis which 



serves as a fifth limb, an arm or hand, performing work 



of all kinds. It is really a prolongation of the nose and 



upper lip. It is hollow 



(Fig. 107), six or eight 



feet in length, and made 



up of forty thousand 



muscles so arranged as 



to afford it the greatest 



possible motion. At the 



extremity of the trunk 



are two orifices, the 



openings of the nostrils, 



and it ends in a fingerlike tip endowed with an exquisite 



sense of touch. With this trunk the elephant pulls down 



Fig. 107. — Section of Trunk. 



