OF THE CLASS MAMMALIA. 



245 



into something analogous. Such are the tapirs (Fig. 208). 

 The desmans (Fig. 209), small insectivorous animals, allied to 

 the musaraignes, shrew mice, but adapted for swimming 

 with ease, and searching for their food at the bottom of 

 burrows dug in beaches, present a similar elongation of the 

 nostrils. 



Fig. 207. South African Elephant. 



[South African Elephant, characterized by the great size of its 

 ears and by the configuration of the trituratory surface of the 

 molar teeth (Fig. 206). There are some grounds for suspicion 

 that the elephants of Central and Northern Africa differ specifically 

 from those of South Africa. R. K.] 



Fig. 208. Head of the Tapir 



Fig. 209. The Desman.* 



395. The Trunk. The vertebral column presents but 

 slight modifications in the vertebrata, and these are chiefly 

 confined to a difference in the number of the vertebrae. 



* Musk Shrew, Sorex Moschatus, also called My ogale. The Desman of the 

 Pyrenees is the type. There is a Russian or Muscovite species the Russian 

 Musk Rat. 



