xn 



There has been much discussion as to the position of the ele- 

 phant in relation to other vertebratcd animals. To show that this 

 question is by no means a simple one we may quote the following 

 extract from a Lecture on the Elephant as published in 1881.* 



The Comparative Anatomist gazes with wonder and delight 

 on the elephant : its structure may be thought to result from a 

 union of the disjecta mevihra of animals most diverse and far 

 separated from each other in the zoological series, so that it is 

 bird-like in the absence of pleurae and the abdominal position of 

 the testes ; whale-like in the arrangement of many of the bones 

 of the face ; and approaches even man in the form of the pelvis 

 and the shortness of the cervical vertebras. It is well worth our 

 while to draw up a list of the principal features of structure which 

 this animal shares with others : — 



The teeth in their general characters remind us of those of 

 rodents ; but for a parallel to the enormous defensive anterior 

 teeth we can refer only to those of ziphius (the sword whale), 

 and the continued production of fresh molars at the posterior 

 part of the series, as the jaw elongates, reminds us also of the 

 toothed whales, and even of animals lower considerably in the 

 scale of vertebrates. Like the molars of the horse, these teeth 

 have much crusta petrosa, but in the elephant this binds the teeth 

 together. In accoi'dance with the state of the teeth the temporo- 

 maxillary joint is somewhat like that of rodents, whereas the 

 stomach and intestines remind us strongly of these organs as 

 seen in the rat and horse. While the face is like that of the horse 

 and rat in some respects, it also resembles that of the whale and 

 the tapir. As in the latter animal, there is a remarkable deve- 

 lopment of the upper lip and nostrils, known as the trunk; as in 

 the whales, the malar arch is very slight, the nasal passage in the 

 skull vertical, short, with rudimentaiy turbinated bones, and the 

 nasals .are very small the premaxillae very long and important, 

 and, in association with these characters,* the cervical region very 

 short. In this latter respect, as also in the inferior maxillBe 

 being pointed anteriorly, and the molars extended posteriorly 

 within the ramus, and the skin being thick, it resembles our 

 familiar friend, su^ domesticus. The thorax consists of a large 

 number of vertebrue, ribs, and sternal elements, reminding us of 

 that of the horse ; but it is conical in shape, like that of rodents 

 * (Veterinary Journal, 1881, Vol. I, p. 17.) 



