PACHYDERMATA. 



ELEPHANT. E'lephas I'ndicus. 



PACHYDERMATA; 



OR, THICK-SKINNED ANIMALS. 



THE important family of the Elephantidae includes, according to the catalogue of the 

 British Museum, the Elephants, Tapirs, Swine, Hyrax, Rhinoceros, and Hippopotamus. 

 All these animals, however different their aspect, are nearly related to each other by 

 means of certain members of the family, which, although now extinct, have been re- 

 covered through the assistance of geological researches. 



Of Elephants, two distinct species are found in different continents, the one inhabiting 

 Asia, and the other taking up its residence in Africa. According to some zoologists, 

 these animals belong to different genera but the distinctions between the two creatures 

 are not sufficiently determined to warrant such a suggestion. Although the Asiatic and 

 African Elephants are very similar in external form, they may at once be distinguished 

 from each other by the dimensions of the head and the size of the ear. In the Asiatic ani- 

 mal, the head is elongated, the forehead concave,and the ears of ordinary size, while in the 



