34 MAMMALIAN GALLERY. 



Mammals. Lepus (Cases 3] and 32, above) contains about 45 

 species, all on the whole very much alike, of which the three 

 British species, the Common Hare (Lepus europaus), the Alpine 

 or Varying Hare (L. variabilis), found both in the Highlands of 

 Scotland and in Ireland, and the Rabbit (L. wmiculus) are typical 

 examples. Lagomys (Case 32, below) consists only of about 8 

 species ; they are short-eared, little animals, known as Pikas or 

 Calling-Hares, from the peculiar calling sound they make. They 

 resemble Guinea-pigs in their external appearance, and are natives 

 of Northern Asia and North America. 



Order VII. UNGULATA, OR HOOFED ANIMALS. 



Suborder PROBOSCIDEA. 



This Suborder, so named from the long trunk or proboscis into 

 which the nose is produced, consists, at the present day, of two 

 species only, the African and Indian Elephants. They are the 

 survivors of a very large number of species which are now extinct, 

 but ranged in former times over the whole of the northern half of 

 both the Old and New Worlds. 



Elephants are heavijy-built animals,, with large ears, nostrils 

 produced into a long flexible trunk, thick limbs, each provided 

 with 5 toes, enclosed in a common skin, so that only the nails 

 show externally, and of these there are, as a rule, only three 

 or four on the hind foot ; tail well developed, reaching nearly 

 to the ground ; skin almost naked, although in the extinct 

 Mammoths it was clothed with long shaggy hair. Incisor teeth 

 growing into long curved tusks, directed downwards and forward. 



The two existing species are : (1) The Indian Elephant (Elephas 

 indicus), of rather smaller size than the African, with much smaller 

 ears, a back arched upwards, with always 4 and sometimes, though 

 very rarely, 5 nails on the hind feet, a finger-like process at the 

 tip of the trunk, and with only small tusks in the female. It is an 

 inhabitant of the Indian region from India and Ceylon, through 

 Burmah and Malacca, to Sumatra. Of this species a rather small 

 stuffed specimen is placed in the Saloon at the end of the Gallery, 

 and there are several skeletons and skulls in the Osteological 

 Gallery, which will be referred to later on (see p. 86). 



