ELEPHAS INDICUS. 231 



others were driven, after days of preparation, into large enclosures ; and 

 occasionally one or two were captured by female decoys taken out for the 

 purpose. The Elephant rarely breeds in confinement. The female has 

 generally one young at a birth. 



Of the value of the tame Elephant, its docility, intelligence, &c., 

 numerous popular accounts have been written, and are familiar to all. 

 Sir J. Tennent has given the most recent and authentic history of the 

 Elephant in Ceylon.* Tigers are almost always shot from elephants, 

 and a well-trained one will stand the charge of a tiger without flinching, 

 though naturally one of the most timorous of animals. Elephants are 

 used in India occasionally to drag heavy pieces of ordnance, but their 

 chief use is in carrying tent equipage for troops, and to assist in the 

 transport of logs of timber from forests to river-banks. 



A peculiar race or species, E. sumatranus, Schlegel, is stated to occur 

 in Sumatra, and the Ceylon elephant was by some considered to be of 

 this race j but that opinion was opposed by Dr. Falconer. 



The Sumatran elephant has twenty pairs of ribs, and the lamina} of 

 the teeth are wider than in the Indian species. It is said to be of more 

 slender make, and to be more remarkable for its intellectual develop- 

 ment than the Indian. 



The African elephant, Elephas africanus, Cuvier, is not now tamed in 

 Africa, though it appears to have been so in tho time of the Cartha- 

 ginians. The tusks are very large, and are nearly of the same size in 

 the male and female. 



The Mammoth, Elephas 'primogenius, appears to have been tolerably 

 well clad with hair of two kinds, and was therefore probably an inhabitant 

 of cold climates. It has been found in both continents. The Mastodons, 

 which are quite extinct now, have the molar teeth with large conical 

 tubercles, and there are small tusks in the lower jaw of the immature 

 animal. They have been found in both continents. 



Tribe PEEISSODACTYLA, Owen. 



With an uneven number of toes on the hind-feet at least. This tribe 

 comprises part of the Pachydermata ordinaria of Cuvier (excluding those 

 with cloven feet, the Hippopotamus and pigs) and the Solidunguda. 



The crown of some of the prsemolars is complex, like that of the molars ; 



* Wanderings in Ceylon, and Natural History of Ceylon. 



