382 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. 
nearly vertical, so that the cerebellar fossa is altogether behind the 
cerebral fossa, or, in plainer terms, the division between the big brain 
(cerebrum) and the little one (cerebellum) is vertical, the two brains 
lying on a level plane fore and aft instead of overlapping. The brain 
itself is highly convoluted. The nasal aperture, or olfactory fossa, is very 
large, and is placed a little below the brain-case. Few people who are 
intimate with but the external form of the elephant would suppose that 
the bump just above the root of the trunk, at which the hunter takes aim 
for the “ front shot,” is really the seat of the organ of smell, the channels 
of which run down the trunk to the orifice at the end. The maxillo- 
turbinals, or twisted bony laminze within the nasal aperture, which are 
to be found in most mammals, are but rudimentary in the elephant—the 
elongated proboscis, according to Professor Flower, probably supplying 
their place in warming the inspired air. The premaxillary and maxillary 
bones are largely developed, and contain the socket of the enormous 
tusks. The narial aperture is thus pushed up, and is short, with an 
upward direction, as in the Cetacea and Sirenia, with whom the 
Proboscidea have certain affinities. 
There are no lower incisors (except in a fossil species), and only two 
of the molar teeth are to be seen on each side of the jaw at a time, 
which are pushed out and replaced by others which grow from behind. 
During the life-time of the animal, twenty-four of these teeth are 
produced, six in each side of the upper and lower jaws. 
The elephant has seven cervical vertebrae, the atlas much resembling 
the human form; of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrz the number is 
23, of which 19 or 20 bear ribs; the caudal vertebra are 31, of a simple 
character, without chevron bones. 
The pelvis is peculiar in some points, such as the form of the ileum 
and the arrangement of its surfaces, resembling the human pelvis. 
The limbs in the skeleton of the elephant are disposed in a manner 
differing from most other mammalia. The humerus is remarkable for 
the great development of the supinator ridge. ‘“‘ The ulna and radius 
are quite distinct and permanently crossed ; the upper end of the latter 
is small, while the ulna not only contributes the principal part of the 
articular surface for the humerus, but has its lower end actually larger 
than that of the radius—a condition almost unique among mammals” 
(Prof. Flower). 
On looking at the skeleton of the elephant, one of the first things that 
strikes the student of comparative anatomy is the perpendicular column 
of the limbs ; in all other animals the bones composing these supports 
are set at certain angles, by which a direct shock in the action of 
galloping and leaping is avoided. Take the skeleton of a horse, and 
you will observe that the scapula and humerus are set almost at right 
angles to each other. It is so in most other animals, but in the elephant, 
