STKUCTURE Or THE ELEPHANT. 249 



The molar teeth also afford excellent indications of the country to 

 which their owner has belonged, for the enamel upon the surface of the 

 teeth of the Asiatic Elephant is moulded into a number of narrow 

 bands like folded ribbons, while that of the African species is formed 

 into five or six diamond- or lozenge-shaped folds. Indeed, each molar 

 tooth seems to be composed of a number of flat, broad teeth, which are 

 fastened closely together, so as to form a single large mass. Only a 

 portion of each tooth is externally visible, the remainder being hidden 

 in the jaw, and moving forward as the exposed portion is worn away. 

 When the whole tooth is thus worn out it fill Is from the jaw, and its 

 place is taken by another, which has been forming behind it. In this 

 manner the Elephant sheds its molar teeth six or seven times in the 

 course of its life. The tusks, however, are permanent, and are re- 

 tained during the whole of the animal's existence. In the Indian Ele- 

 phant only the males are furnished with tusks, and not every individ- 

 ual of that sex, whereas in the African species both sexes are supplied 

 with these valuable appendages, those of the male being much larger 

 and heavier than those of his mate. 



The strangest portion of the Elephant's form is the trunk or probos- 

 cis. This wonderful appendage is in fact a development of the upper 

 lips and the nose, and is perforated through its entire length by the nos- 

 trils, and furnished at its extremity with a kind of finger-like append- 

 age, which enables the animal to pluck a single blade of grass or to 

 pick a minute object from the ground. The value of the proboscis to 

 the Elephant is incredible ; without its aid the creature would soon 

 starve. The short, thick neck would prevent it from stooping to graze, 

 while the projecting tusks would effectually hinder it from reaching 

 any vegetables which might grow at the level of its mouth. And, as 

 it would be unable to draw water into its mouth without the use of the 

 trunk, thirst would in a very short time end its existence. 



In order to support the enormous weight of the teeth, tusks, and pro- 

 boscis, the head is required to be of very large dimensions, so as to af- 

 ford support for the powerful muscles and tendons which are requisite 

 for such a task. It is also needful that lightness should be combined 

 with magnitude, and this double condition is very beautifully fulfilled. 

 The skull of the Elephant, instead of being a mere bony shell round 

 the brain, is enormously enlarged by the separation of its bony plates, 

 the intervening space being filled with a vast number of honeycomb-like 

 bony cells, th-^ir walls being hardly thicker than strong paper, and their 

 hollows filled during the life of the animal with a kind of semi-liquid 

 fat or oil. The brain lies in a comparatively small cavity within this 

 cellular structure, and is therefore defended from the severe concus- 

 sions which it would otherwise experience from the frequency with 

 which the animal employs its head as a battering-ram. 



