168 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



their stride, and the great propelling weight of their 

 bodies, is for a time very rapid, and bears before it 

 all ordinary obstacles, clearing a way through the 

 thickest and most matted underwood."* 



In many of the species, the canine or incisor teeth 

 are developed into curved tusks, which in some 

 attain a monstrous size. The nose also is greatly 

 lengthened, sometimes into a broad flexible muzzle, 

 and sometimes into a long snout or trunk. The, 

 Elephants are the best examples of both these 

 peculiarities of structure. It is probable, that this 

 Order contains the longest lived of all the land 

 animals ; Mr. Hodgson informs us, that the Indian 

 Rhinoceros is believed to live for one hundred years ; 

 and that one, taken mature, was kept at Katmandoo 

 for thirty-five years, without exhibiting any symp- 

 toms of approaching decline. -j- It is the common 

 opinion in India that the Elephant lives three cen- 

 turies ; several now in the service of the East India 

 Company were old when they came into possession 

 of the Europeans, upwards of ninety years ago. 



Most of the species, especially those of gigantic 

 size, inhabit the continent and great islands of 

 India, and Africa. Some, however, are peculiar to 

 America, and others have a very extensive range, as 

 the Hogs. No one can read the graphic and poetical 

 description of Behemoth, in the Book of Job, with- 

 out perceiving that it applies to some one of the 

 great Pachyderms, whether the species be the exist- 

 ing Elephant, the Hippopotamus, or any of the older 

 giants now extinct, the Mastodon, or the Mammoth. 

 * Nat. Lib., Pachyd. p. 95. f Proc. Zool. Soc. 1834, p. 98. 



