144 THE REASON WHY: 



&quot; The unwieldly elephant 



To make them mirth used all his might, and wreathed 

 His lithe proboscis.&quot; MILTON. 



and having five toes on each foot, included in a very firm homy 

 skin, as certain extinct gigantic species, and the elephant, &c. 



2. The Pachydermata ordinaria, in which the feet have two, 

 three, or four toes on each foot. 



3. The Solidungula, or quadrupeds with only one apparent toe, 

 and a single hoof to each foot, although beneath the skin there are 

 bony points which represent two lateral toes. 



By many naturalists, however, the solidungula are regarded as a 

 distinct order. 



432. JPhy is the elephant furnished with a proboscis ? 



Because the enormous head of the animal is so heavy that were 

 it placed at the end of a neck of a length proportionate to the 

 dimensions of that organ in other animals, an almost incalculable 

 amount of muscular force would be necessary to elevate and 

 sustain it. The shortness, and almost total absence of a neck, 

 obviates the difficulty j the provision of a trunk compensates the 

 absence of a neck. 



433. Animals in general which feed on herbage or other productions situated 

 near the ground, require that the head should be attached to a neck the length of 

 which is proportionate to that of its fore legs, so that on lowering the head it can 

 apply its mouth to the ground without bending its legs. These conditions are 

 obviously incompatible with a large and ponderous head like that of the elephant, 

 and we accordingly find animals, such as the giraffe, having fore legs of 

 considerable length, and consequently a neck in proportion, furnished with 

 small light heads. 



434. Why is the elephant s trunk capable of a great variety 

 of motions ? 



Because it is made up of a great number of muscles with their 

 tendons. Those nr -scles have their insertions in the internal and 

 external coverings of the trunk ; and they lie in a great variety of 

 directions, some longitudinal, some nearly circular, and othera 

 oblique. 



