THE ASIATIC ELEPHANT. 169 
Europe, the former having formed an important part of 
the armament with which Porus withstood the conquer- 
ing arms of Alexander, and having been subsequently 
introduced even into Italy by Pyrrhus; and the latter, 
as we may fairly presume, furnishing those individuals 
which were employed in the warlike array of the Cartha- 
ginians. The Asiatic animal appears when fully grown 
to attain a larger size than the African, the females 
commonly measuring from-seven to eight, and the males 
from eight to ten feet in height, and sometimes weighing 
six or seven thousand pounds. His head is more oblong, 
and his forehead presents in the centre a deep concavity 
between two lateral and rounded elevations; that of the 
African being round and convex -in all its parts. The 
teeth of the former are composed of transverse vertical 
lamin of equal breadth, while those of the latter form 
rhomboidal or lozenge-shaped divisions. The ears of the 
Asiatic are also smaller and descend no lower than his 
neck, and he exhibits four distinct toes on his hind feet: 
the African on the contrary is furnished with ears of 
much greater size, descending to his legs, and no more 
than three toes are visible on his posterior extremities. 
These differences are so striking and important, and 
indeed, so far as regards the form of the head and the 
structure of the teeth, so essential, that it is impossible 
not to adopt the division which has been founded upon 
them, and to consider the natives of the two continents 
as originally and specifically distinct. 
The Asiatic Elephants themselves vary considerably 
in several minor particulars, such as the comparative 
length and thickness of their trunks and of their tusks, 
the latter of which are sometimes, even in the males, of 
