CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 11. PACHYDERM AT A. 



623 



THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 



ORDER 11. PACHYDERMATA. 



The animals of this order, containing the largest that live upon the land, are characterized by 

 the thickness of their tough and leathery skin and the want of a ruminating stomach,. though 

 their natural food is wholly vegetable. Most of them are but thinly clothed with hair, and some 

 are almost entirely destitute of it, having only a few scattered bristle's. The impenetrable char- 

 acter of the hide is thus needful to protect them from the maddening punctures of the venomous 

 ticks and flies which swarm in the sultry regions of the tropics. For the same reason they seek 

 refuge, during the burning heat of the day, in ponds and rivers, where, immersed to the neck, 



