430 THE ANATOMY OP VEETEBEATED ANIMALS. 



inner and the outer tables of the skull is often, in an old 

 elephant, considerably greater than the diameter of the 

 cerebral cavity itself. The cranial cavity is elongated and 

 subcylindrical. The supra-occipital rises far upon the roof 

 of the skull, so that the parietals are much naiTOwer at 

 the sagittal suture than elsewhere. The premaxillse are 

 very large, and the nasal bones short, the nasal passages 

 being nearly vertical. The jugal bone forms only the 

 middle part of the jugal arcade. The rami of the mandible 

 have a high perpendicular portion, and they are largely 

 ankylosed at the symphysis, which is produced into a sort 

 of spout. 



The acromion of the scapula has a recui-ved process, 

 such as is freqxiently found in the Rodents, to which order 

 the Proboscidea present many curious approximations. 

 There are no clavicles. In the antebrachium, the radius 

 is permanently fixed (though not ankylosed) in the prone 

 position, crossing the ulna obliquely. The carpal and 

 metacarpal bones, and the phalanges, are remarkable for 

 their short and thick form, and the manus is larger than 

 the pes. 



The ilia are immensely expanded transversely. The 

 femur, which is not connected by any round ligament to 

 the acetabulum, is relatively long and slender ; and, when 

 the animal is at rest, is directed perpendicularly to the 

 axis of the trunk, not bent up, so as to form an acute angle 

 with that axis, as it is in ordinary quadrupeds. The ham 

 consequently occupies the middle of the length of the hind 

 leg ; the flexion of which, at this point, when the animal 

 walks, gives an elephant a gait which is strikingly dif- 

 ferent from that of other quadrupeds. The tibia is rela- 

 tively short. The fibula is distinct and complete, and the 

 bones of the pes have the same broad and short form as 

 those of the manus. The hallux has only a single phalanx 

 in some species. 



The Proboscidea have only two kinds of teeth, incisors 

 and molars, canines being entirely absent. The incisors 

 are composed of dentine and cement, with or without a 



