ELEPHANTS. 65 



As regards the number of elephants captured annually, a recent 

 return gives us 503 as captured in the three years ending 1880, in 

 the forests of Assam, by the Indian Government. 



There exist a few points in the special anatomy of the elephants 

 of which it may be permissible to treat briefly, and of these points, 

 the skeleton presents several for examination. First in interest, 

 perhaps, comes the enormous size of the skull, and the modifications 

 wherewith this huge mass of bone is rendered relatively light and 

 more easily supported on the spine. The skull of the elephant is 

 unquestionably large, even when considered in relation to the huge 

 body of which it forms such an important part ; but when the skull 

 is seen in section, we discover that, instead of presenting us with a 

 solid mass of bone, its walls are hollowed out in a remarkable fashion, 

 so as to materially reduce its weight. In order to thoroughly under- 

 stand how the elephant's skull is thus modified, it is necessary for a 

 moment to refer to the structure of the ordinary quadruped cranium. 

 It is a well-known fact that as the skull advances towards maturity, 

 its bones undergo certain changes with the view of adapting them- 

 selves to the growth and protection of the brain and organs of sense. 

 The increase of that part of the skull which forms the brain-case 

 naturally takes a direction in which the thickness of the bones parti- 

 cipates ; but the adaptation of skull to brain is also wrought out 

 through the development of certain " cells " or spaces often also 

 named sinuses between the two layers or "tables" of which the bones 

 consist. An example of such spaces in man is found in the so-called 

 " frontal sinuses," which exist between the layers of the frontal or fore- 

 head bone, just above the nose. In other quadrupeds (e.g. dog) these 

 spaces also exist, and they occur in other parts of the skull as well. 



Now, it is by a huge and extreme modification of the " sinuses " 

 of the skull that the elephant's cranium is rendered light and 

 more easily borne. It is evident that a demand exists in these 

 animals for a skull of great strength, which not only shall be equal 

 to the task of giving origin to muscles of power sufficient for the 

 animal's movements, but which may also adequately support the 

 great " tusks." And Nature has succeeded accordingly, by a most 

 interesting modification, in uniting size and strength to a minimum of 

 weight. If we examine the skull of a young elephant, in the sixth 

 month of its life, the skull-bones are well-nigh solid, and certainly 

 present no trace of the curious alteration of which they ultimately 

 become the subjects. But in the adult skull great spaces, correspond- 

 ing to the "sinuses" of man and other animals, are seen to exist, 

 these spaces in some cases actually separating the two layers of the 

 skull-bones to an extent of twelve inches. Nor are these spaces 

 limited to the frontal bones, for they exist in the upper jaw bones, 

 and extend even to those forming the animal's palate ; whilst the 



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