VERTEBRATA: MAMMALIA. 



731 



The Indian Elephant is the only species which is now caught 

 and domesticated, and as it rarely breeds in captivity, the de- 

 mand for it is supplied almost entirely by the capture of adult 

 wild individuals, which are taken chiefly by the assistance of 

 those which have been already tamed. The Indian Elephant 

 is distinguished by its concave forehead, its small ears, and the 

 characters of the molars. Its skull is pyramidal, and it has 

 five hoofs on the fore-feet, and only four on the hind-feet. Its 

 colour is generally pale brown. (The so-called " White Ele- 

 phants "are merely albinos.) The African Elephant, on the 

 other hand, has a strongly convex forehead and great flapping 

 ears. Its 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 destruc- 

 tion of these fine animals. A 

 great deal, however, of the 

 ivory of commerce conies from 

 Siberia, and is really derived 

 from the tusks of the now ex- 

 tinct Mammoth, which formerly 

 inhabited the north of Asia in 

 great numbers. 



The Elephants are all phy- 



II. 



IV. 



tophagous, living entirely on 

 the foliage of shrubs and trees, 

 and other vegetable matters, 

 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. 



Closely allied to the true 

 Elephants are the Mastodons, 

 characterised by the fact that the crowns of the molar teeth 

 have nipple-shaped tubercles placed in pairs (fig. 420). Gen- 

 erally speaking, the two upper incisors formed long curved 

 tusks, as in the Elephants, but in some cases there were two 

 lower incisors as well. The various species of Mastodon all 

 belong to the later Tertiary and Post-tertiary periods. 



Fig 419. Hind-foot of the Indian Ele- 

 phant (Elepkas Indicus). (After Cuvier.) 



