THE AUTOPSY OF AN ELEPHANT. 219 



or receding rump. Although the "African " elephant 

 was employed by the Carthagenians in their wars with 

 the Romans and the rest of mankind, the art of capt- 

 uring and taming the creature was lost to the inhabit- 

 ants of the Middle Ages. It is not long since the 

 first African elephants were placed in the London 

 Zoological Gardens. The ivory of the African ele- 

 phant is more valuable than that of the Asiatic 

 species, hence it is sought by every trader doing busi- 

 ness in the " dark continent." It has been estimated 

 that seventy-five thousand African elephants are annu- 

 ally slain for the tusks alone ; and when guns of large 

 caliber are distributed among the native Africans 

 from the Sahara desert to Cape Colony, the elephant 

 will become extinct, or exceedingly scarce. The 

 trunk or proboscis of the elephant is a curious ap- 

 pendage to the upper lip and nose. The attachment 

 to the forehead is through powerful muscles, liga- 

 ments, and fascias. The free end of the trunk has a 

 finger or thumb-like extension that is capable of pick- 

 ing up a straw or even a pin. Inasmuch as the ele- 

 phant obtains its food and drink through the instru- 

 mentality of the proboscis, it is not strange that the 

 animal guards the useful organ against all harm. 

 When the huge proboscidian is attacked by the tiger, 

 its inveterate foe, the trunk is raised high in air, 

 and the tusks are employed to toss the great feline. 

 On the other hand, the tiger understands the vulner- 

 able part of the elephant, and seeks an opportunity to 

 leap upon the forehead at the base of the tusks, and 

 there, with tooth and nail, inflict direful wounds upon 

 its clumsy enemy. 



An elephant's proboscis is really a prolonged 

 upper lip and snout, the nasal chambers running the 



