4(J0 THK MECllAMCAL FUiNCnONS. 



The head being limited in its range of motion by 

 its approximation to the trunk, the mouth cannot 

 be applied directly to seize the food : and some 

 means were therefore to be provided for bringing 

 the food to the mouth. For this purpose a peculiar 

 organ, the proboscis, has been constructed : it con- 

 sists of a cylinder, perfectly flexible, and of a length 

 sufficient to reach the ground, when the elephant is 

 standing. The animal has the power of moving it 

 in all possible directions by means of a prodigious 

 number of muscular fibres, which are collected in 

 small bands, some passing transversely, and radia- 

 ting from the interior towards the circumference, 

 others situated more obliquely, and a third set run- 

 ning longitudinally, and forming an exterior layer; 

 but they are all variously interlaced together so as 

 to compose a very complicated arrangement. The 

 extremity of the proboscis, which is endowed with 

 great sensibility, is furnished with an appendix, 

 resembling a finger, most of the functions of which, 

 indeed, it is capable of performing. 



For the formation of this admirable member it 

 has not been necessary to deviate from the ordinary 

 laws of developement by the creation of a new 

 organ ; the same end being accomplished by the 

 extension of a structure already belonging to the 

 type of mammiferous animals. In several of the 

 pachydermata the nostrils are already considerably 

 advanced, so as to form a moveable snout : this is 

 observable in a certain degree in the Hog; it is 

 still more remarkably seen in the Tapir, which has 

 a snout so lengthened and so moveable as very 

 much to resemble, though on a small scale, the 

 proboscis of the elephant. This latter organ, then. 



