6O2 MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



colour is darker, its skull is rounded, and it has four hoofs on 

 the fore-feet, and only three on the hind-feet. The African 

 Elephant is chiefly hunted for the sake of its ivory, and there 

 is too much reason to believe that the pursuit will ultimately 

 end in the destruction of these fine animals. A great deal, 

 however, of the ivory of commerce comes from Siberia, and is 

 really derived from the tusks of the now extinct Mammoth, 

 which formerly inhabited the north of Asia in great numbers. 



The Elephants are all phytophagous, living almost entirely 

 on the foliage of shrubs and trees, which they strip off by 

 means of the prehensile trunk. As the tusks prevent the 

 animal from drinking in the ordinary manner, the water is 

 sucked up by the trunk, which is then inserted into the mouth, 

 into which it empties its contents. 



Many species of fossil Elephants are known, but the most 

 familiar of them is the Mammoth (Elephas primigenius)* This 



Fig. 257. Third milk molar of the left side of the upper jaw of Mastodon A rver- 

 nensis, showing the grinding surface. Pliocene. (After Lyell.) 



enormous animal is now wholly extinct, but it formerly 

 abounded in the northern parts of Asia and over the whole 

 of Europe. It occurred also in Britain, and unquestionably 

 existed in the earlier portion of the human period, its remains 

 having been found in a great number of instances in connec- 

 tion with human implements. From its great abundance in 

 Siberia, it might have been safely inferred that the Mammoth 

 was able to endure a much colder climate than either of the 

 living species. This inference, however, has been rendered 

 a certainty by the discovery of the body of more than one 

 Mammoth embedded in the frozen soil of Siberia. These 

 specimens had been so perfectly preserved that even micro- 



