108 THE ELEPHANT OF INDIA. 



is true enamel, but is not harder than the centra 

 part of the tooth or the ivory. The external ear 

 is large, but small compared with that of the 

 next animal. The eyes are very small, with 

 round pupils, and with a piggish expression. 

 The feet have five toes, which are concealed by 

 an envelope of skin, (and are only shewn at the 

 tips by the nails) which fits them and protects 

 them like a slipper. But the most remarkable 

 portion of the structure of the Elephant, is what 

 is usually called the trunk or proboscis, properly 

 an elongation of the nose, and used as an organ 

 of prehension, most valuable when we consider 

 the unwieldy size of the head, and the shortness 

 of the neck.* It acts also as a delicate organ of 

 touch and of smell ; it can lift an article of great 

 minuteness, while it can raise the most immense 

 weights ; it serves also to convey drink to the 

 mouth, which otherwise would be unattainable, 

 and it is a weapon of defence of a most powerful 

 description. It is formed by a membranous pro- 

 longation of the tubes of the nostrils, furnished 

 with muscles, and covered exteriorly with tendi- 

 nous expanse. The muscles which move the trunk 

 are of two kinds, the longitudinal ones, divided 



* Among herbivorous animals we have noticed a relative 

 proportion between the neck and the legs, but here there 

 is none, and a substitute was required, which we find 

 beautifully compensated by the trunk. 



