16R THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Kegarding the use and power of the elephant's trunk, Mr. 

 Sanderson thought that much misapprehension also prevailed, 

 this organ being chiefly used to procure food and to warn it of 

 danger by the senses of smell and touch. It is a delicate and 

 sensitive organ, never used for rough Avork, and in any dangerous 

 situation the elephant at once guards it by curling it up. When 

 engaged in such work as dragging timber, the rope is invariably 

 taken between the teeth ; they never attempt to pull a heavy 

 weight with the trunk. A.n elephant is powerful enough to 

 extricate a cannon from a difficult situation ; but does so by 

 pushing with the head or feet, or in harness, never by lifting or 

 drawing with the trunk. 



Tbe age to which an elephant lives is, as must ever be the 

 case with denizens of the forest, uncertain. The general native 

 opinion is that they attain one hundred and twenty years in 

 exceptional cases (they have been known to attain that age in 

 captivity), but more usually to eighty years. Mr. Sanderson 

 thought it by no means improbable that in a state of nature they 

 might live to one hundred and fifty, or even two hundred years. 



A remarkable fact in connection with wild elephants is the 

 extreme rarity of any remains of dead ones being found in the 

 jungles. In his own wanderings for several years through 

 elephant jungles, he had only seen the remains of one female 

 elephant, tliat died in giving birth to a young one, and of one 

 other drowned in a mountain torrent. 



If elephants live for two hundred years the annual deaths 

 from natural causes would only amount to five per thousand. 

 This figure would no doubt be exceeded in reality, as elephants 

 are liable to be killed by each other. Though the number that 

 die annually is thus probably much less than might be supposed, 

 the mystery of what becomes of the remains of those that do die 

 is still entirely unexplained. 



A herd of elephants usually consists of from thirty to fifty 

 individuals; but much larger numbers, even upwards of one 

 hundred, are by no means uncommon. The herd is alwaj's led 

 by a female, never by a male, and the necessity for this is evident, 

 as the females must accommodate the length and time of their 

 marches, and the localities in which they rest and feed, to the 

 requirements of their young. As a rule, only one young one is 

 produced at a birth ; but Mr. Sanderson had known three cases 



