642 



ANNUAL KEPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1908, 



On the other hand, anatomists had already recognized certain simi- 

 larities of structure between the elephants and the Hyracoidea., the 

 Hyraces, or conies, furry, rabbit-like animals not more than 18 

 inches in length, short ears, tailless, and with hoof-like nails instead 

 of the claws one would be led to expect from their general appear- 

 ance. They are confined to Africa with the exception of the Syrian 

 conies, which the Book of Proverbs tells us " are but a feeble folk, 

 yet make their houses in the rocks." Kecent exploration in Egypt 

 has revealed the presence of a hyrax much larger than the modern 

 representatives of the order, and proclaiming by its structure a much 

 closer approximation with the early elephants whose bones are found 

 entombed in the same deposits. 



Fig. 1. — The Manatee, Manatus aiistralis; after Brehm. 



Elephants show a curious intermingling of primitive and special- 

 ized characters, for in spite of the remarkable development of teeth, 

 tusks, and trunk, many of the other bodily features would serve to 

 place them among the most archaic of the ungulates. 



The primitive features of the elephants, briefly enumerated, are 

 as follows: Simplicity of stomach, liver, and lungs, and the rather 

 low type of brain. The limbs combine the archaic features of five 

 toes in front and rear and a serial arrangement of wrist and ankle 

 bones with the admirable adaptation of the entire limb to the support 

 of the huge body. The limbs are further primitive in the retention 

 of both bones of the lower leg and arm, for in most other ungulates 

 one of these in each member becomes greatly reduced, being, for 

 part of the length at least, often entirely absent. 



