98 MAMMALIA. 



Their distinctive character consists in the grinders, the bodies of which are 

 composed of a certain number of vertical lamina- . each one being formed of 

 a bony substance, enveloped with enamel, and cemented together by a third 

 substance called cortical ; in a word, similar to those already described in the 

 cabiais, and other Rodentia. Their grinders succeed each other, not vertically, 

 or as our permanent teeth succeed the first ones, but from behind ; so that as 

 fast as one tooth becomes worn, it is pushed forward by that which comes 

 after it. Hence it happens that the elephant has sometimes one, sometimes 

 two grinders on each side. Their food is strictly vegetable. 



The elephants of the present day, clothed with a rough skin nearly destitute 

 of hair, are only found in the torrid zone of the eastern continent, where 

 hitherto only two species have been ascertained. 



E. Indicus, Cuvier. (The Elephant of India.) An oblong head; the 

 crown of the grinders presenting transverse undulating fillets, which are 

 sections of the laminae which compose them worn by trituration. This 

 species has rather smaller ears than the next one, and has four nails to the 

 hind foot. It is found from the Indus to the Eastern Ocean, and in the large 

 islands in the south of India. They have been used from the earliest ages as 

 beasts of draught and burden. The females have very short tusks, and in 

 this respect many of the males resemble them. 



E. Africanvs, Cuvier. (The African Elephant.) A round head ; convex 

 forehead; large ears; the crowns of the grinders divided into lozenges. 

 Found from Senegal to the Cape of Good Hope. The tusks of the female 

 are as large as those of the male, and the weapon itself, generally speaking, is 

 larger than in the Indian species. The African Elephant is not now tamed, 

 though it appears that the Carthaginians employed it in the same way that 

 the inhabitants of India do theirs. 



The second genus of the Proboscidiana is the 



MASTODON, Cuvier. 



The Mammoth has been completely destroyed, nor is there a single indivi- 

 dual living. It had the feet, tusks, trunk, and many other details of conforma- 

 tion in common with the elephant; but differed from it in the grinders. Two 

 species have been found 



M. giganteum. The Great Mastodon, in which the sections of the points 

 are lozenge-shaped, is the most celebrated species. It 

 equalled the elephant in size, but with still heavier 

 proportions. Its remains are found in a wonderful state 

 of preservation, and in great abundance throughout all 

 parts of North America. They are infinitely more rare 

 in the eastern continent. The M. angustidens was a 

 third less than the Great Mastodon, and much lower on its legs- Its remains 

 are found throughout the greater part of Europe and of South America. In 

 certain places, the teeth, tinged with iron, become of a beautiful blue when 

 heated, forming what is called the oriental turquoise. 



