The Elephant, Tapir, Hyrax, and Rhinoceros 179 



-at Carthage as was afterwards 

 to Mithridates, who, I suppose, 

 drew his supply from India ? 

 I know in the representations 

 of elephants on the medals 

 of Faustina and of Septimus 

 Severus the ears are African, 

 though the bodies and heads 

 are Indian ; but these were 

 struck nearly 400 years after 

 Carthaginian times, when the 

 whole known world had been 

 ransacked by the Romans for 

 beasts for their public shows; 

 and I still think it possible 

 that the Carthaginians the 

 great traders and colonisers 

 of old may have obtained 

 elephants through some of 

 their colonies from India." 



An interesting example 

 of the intelligence of these 

 animals can be seen any 

 day at the London Zoological 

 Gardens. A large African ele- 

 phant restores to his would-be 

 entertainers all the biscuits, 

 whole or broken, which strike 

 the bars and fall alike out 

 of his reach and theirs in 

 the space between the barrier 

 and his cage. He points his 

 trunk at the biscuits, and 



blows them hard along the floor to the feet of the persons who have thrown them. He clearly knows 

 what he is doing, because, if the biscuits do not travel far enough, he gives them a harder blow. 



TAPIRS AND HYRAX. 



BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.L.S., F.Z.S. 



TAPIRS are -odd-looking creatures, and, strange as it may seem, are nevertheless related 

 on the one hand to the rhinoceroses, and on the other to the horses. They are furthermore 

 extremely interesting animals, because they have undergone less modification of form than any 

 other members of the group to which they belong. This we know because fossil tapirs, 

 belonging to a very remote period of the world's history, are practically indistinguishable from 

 those now living. 



The general form of the body may perhaps be described as pig-like ; the head, too, 

 suggests that animal. But the pig's snout is here produced into a short proboscis, or trunk. 

 'The feet are quite unlike those of the pig, and resemble those of the rhinoceros. The fore 

 feet have each four and the hind feet three toes ; these are all encased in large horse-like 

 'hoofs. The tail is reduced to a mere stump. 



Tapirs are shy and inoffensive animals, living in the seclusion of dense forests in the 

 neighbourhood of water, in which element they are quite at home ; indeed, it is said that 

 they will frequently dive and walk along the bed of the river. They are also fond of 



Photo by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] 



MALE AFRICAN ELEPHANT DRINKING. 

 Note the great size of the tusks and base of the trunk. 



[Nmlh Finchley. 



