THEIR FOOD, 279 



Dicotyledonous trees and shrubs, snch as the African Ele- 

 phant is said to affect, I know of but one form in the ' Sal 

 Forests ' which the Indian species is known to touch, namely, 

 the huge tuberous dilatation of the ligneous root of the 

 Scandent, Pueraria tuherosa, ' Sural.' The fruticose and 

 herbaceous Dicotyledons, the foliage and stems of which 

 may enter into his occasional food, I do not attempt to 

 enumerate. 



Among the monocotyledonous families, a very large portion 

 of his habitual fare is derived from the Graminece, and more 

 sparingly from Palms ; of the former, he luxuriates on the 

 young shoots and tender foliage of various species of Bam- 

 boo, which occur in vast abundance, together with the fleshy 

 albuminous fruit of Beesha Rheedii, found in the southern 

 forests. The 'jhils,' or swamps, to which he resorts, are 

 sheeted with the gigantic reeds of Arundo hurha, ' Nul,' the 

 young culms of which, together with the stems and leaves of 

 Typha Elephantina, ' Patela,' at certain seasons, constitute a 

 favourite food of the Indian Elephant. The open glades and 

 prairie lands are covered with species of Saccharum, form- 

 ing what is called ' Grass Jungle,' composed chiefly of 8. 

 spontaneum, ' Kas,' interspersed with 8. fuscum, ' Tat,' 8. 

 Sara, ' Surkura,' or ' Moonj,' 8. exaltatum, ' Suroo,' &c. 

 Clumps of these grasses are twisted up by his trunk, in his 

 journeys to and from the forests ; they are beaten against 

 his legs to free the roots from sand, and then subjected to 

 mastication. The sand which still adheres to these grasses, 

 together with the large quantity of silica contained in the 

 leaves and culms of Saccharum spontaneum, the most cha- 

 racteristic species of the grass jungle, performs an important 

 duty in the economy of wear of the Elephant's molar teeth. 1 

 Palms, which are stated to occupy the first rank in the 

 favourite food of the animals in Ceylon, 2 are represented in 

 the ' Sal ' Forests by species which either do not, or hardly 

 at all contribute to it : being limited to Calamus Boylei, 

 Phoenix acaulis, and Harina oblongifolia. But in the more 

 southern forests they are replaced by various genera and 

 species, the tender and farinaceous leading shoot of which, 

 as in Ceylon, is eagerly eaten by the Elephant. But com- 

 pared with the wild fig-trees, bamboos, and other grasses, 

 they constitute a subordinate part only of the food of the 

 wild animal. When he makes a raid into cultivated tracts 



1 The exeessivo abundance of silica in ment is rounded off, as I hare repeatedly 



tho culms and leaves of S. spontaneum witnessed. 



is practically shown when it is attempted 2 Tennent, Nat. Hist, of Ceylon, p. 



to mow it with an English scythe. After 230. 

 a few sweeps, the edge of the imple- 



