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ELEPHANTS 



purrs in answer to one's voice : but the lion is pompous, 

 irritable, and easily upset. He never purrs. He is 

 unpleasantly and obscurely spotted. He seems to be 

 afraid of losing his dignity, and to be conscious of the 

 fact that his reputation like that of some English officials 

 depends on the overpowering wig which he now wears, 

 though his Macedonian forerunner had no such growth to 

 give an illusive appearance of size and capacity to his 

 head. However opinions may differ about these things, 

 all will agree that the elephant (or " Oliphant," as he was 



FIG. ii. The Indian elephant (Elephas maximns or indicus}. 

 Observe the small size of its ear-flap. 



called in France 400 years ago) is the most imposing, 

 fascinating, and astonishing of all animals. 



At the present day there are two species only of 

 elephant existing on the earth's surface. These are the 

 Indian (Fig. I i) (called Elephas indicus, but sometimes 

 called Elephas maxiinus on account of the priority which 

 belongs to that designation, although the Indian elephant 

 is smaller than the other), and the African (Fig. I 2) (called 

 Elephas Africanus). In the wild state their area of 

 occupation has become greatly diminished within historic 

 times. The Indian elephant was hunted in Mesopotamia 



