4 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



sensitive this important organ is; to what remarkable uses it is put. 

 Without it eating and drinking would be difficult, and even if 

 most of us have only been able to satisfy Jumbo's appetite by 

 delivering a bun or a crust guaranteed to cause indigestion in a 

 smaller animal, as the large beast has thrust its trunk over the bars 

 of its den, or craftily on one side as a happy freight of children were 

 being taken for a ride round the Zoological Gardens, our acquaint- 

 ance has been intimate enough to realize that the animal places food 

 in its mouth through the agency of the indispensable trunk, and 

 when watching the animal taking up water and blowing it into the 

 stomach through its living water-hose, it is evident that without the 

 aid of the trunk in placing food in the mouth, great difficulty would 

 be experienced when feeding. 



Who, excepting those who study animals, would imagine that 

 the well-known tusks— so valuable as articles of commerce — are 

 simply two enormously developed teeth situate in the upper jaw ? 



The Elephant does not possess any canine teeth, and the in- 

 cisors, as has been shown, are limited to two in the top jaw. 

 Swainson says that "the more perfect quadrupeds have three sorts 

 of teeth, termed incisors, canines and molars. . . . The canines 

 follow the incisors, and occupy an intermediate station between them 

 and the molars; they are only employed in tearing or holding; 

 hence they are chiefly confined to quadrupeds who live upon animal 

 matter, and are wanting in the herbivorous ruminants, to whom, in 

 fact, they are unnecessary." The molar teeth are of enormous size; 

 there are twenty-four of these cheek teeth in all, six on either side of 

 both upper and lower jaws. Never more than two of these teeth are 

 in use at once. 



Viewing the general form of the Elephant, the next important 

 feature to recognize after the trunk, the pouchy skin and the enor- 

 mous body, is the straightness of the massive legs. Pedestal-like 

 and to all appearances jointless, they are admirably calculated to 

 support the weight of the body, but those who have witnessed a 

 troupe of performing elephants must have noticed how active the 

 legs are, and that Shakespeare was woefully at fault when he 

 believed that the animal possessed no joints in its legs and thus 

 could not lie down ! Although it does not come within the scope of 

 this work to deal at length with performing animals, much informa- 

 tion may be obtained by a careful watch being kept when one is 

 attending such performances. Too many people perchance pay no 



