CHAPTER XIV 
THE STORY OF THE ELEPHANTS 
“Yes, where the huntsman winds his matin horn, 
And the couched hare beneath the covert trembles ; 
Where shepherds tend their flocks, and grow their corn, 
Where fashion in our gay Parade assembles— 
Wild horses, deer, and elephants have strayed, 
Treading beneath their feet old Ocean’s races.” 
Horace Siri. 
THE science of Paleontology is always advancing, sometimes by 
leaps and bounds, at other times slowly but surely. It is our 
pleasant duty to record here a great step in advance made some 
seven years ago chiefly by the researches in Egypt of Dr. C. W. 
Andrews, F.R.S. His discoveries'in the district known as the 
Fayim have enabled him to solve a very important and interesting 
problem, namely, the evolution of the Elephant, the only living 
representative of that strange order known to naturalists and 
paleontologists as the Proboscidia, because they are all provided 
with trunks. The relationships of the group are still partly 
wrapped in mystery,' but as if to compensate for this loss, we 
can now tell how the elephant got his trunk! We can almost see 
it growing as we look at those wonderful skulls obtained from 
Egypt, showing, among other things, the great increase in size 
which took place. This is surely a great result, the problem of 
1 According to Dr. C. W. Andrews, and others, they seem to be related to the 
Sirenia or sea-cows, an order very unlike in external appearance, but for all that 
the anatomist finds certain common characters. 
