PROBOSCIDEA 423 
quite distinct from the tibia. The feet are short and broad, the 
carpal and tarsal bones being very square, with flattened surfaces 
for articulation ; the astragalus especially differs from that of typical 
Ungulates in its flatness, in the absence of a distinct pulley-like 
articular surface at either extremity, and in having no articular 
facet for the cuboid. The fibula articulates with the caleaneum, as 
in Artiodactyles. Of the five toes present on each extremity (see 
Fig. 98), the middle one is somewhat the largest, and the lateral 
ones smallest, and generally wanting (especially in the hind foot) 
the complete number of phalanges. The ungual phalanges are all 
small, irregular in form, and late in ossification. The whole are 
encased in a common integument, with a flat, subcircular, truncated 
sole, the only external indication of the toes being the broad oval 
nails or hoofs arranged in a semicircle around the front edge of the 
sole. The hind foot is smaller and narrower than the front. The 
liver is small and simple, and there is no gall-bladder. In form 
the brain resembles that of the Rodents and other lower orders of 
mammals, the cerebellum being entirely behind and uncovered by the 
cerebrum, but the hemispheres of the latter are richly convoluted. 
The Proboscidea are exclusively vegetable feeders, living chiefly 
on leaves and young branches of forest trees and various kinds of 
herbage, which they gather and convey to their mouth by the very 
mobile proboscis, an organ which combines in a marvellous manner 
strength with dexterity of application, and is a necessary compensa- 
tion for the shortness and inflexibility of the neck, as by it many 
of the functions of the lips of other animals are performed. By its 
means the Elephant is enabled to drink without bending the head 
or limbs; the end of the trunk being dipped into the stream or 
pool, a forcible inspiration fills the two capacious air-passages in 
its interior with water, which, on the tip of the trunk being turned 
upwards and inserted into the mouth, is ejected by a blowing action, 
and swallowed ; or if the animal wishes to refresh and cool its skin, 
it can throw the water in a copious stream over any part of its 
surface. Elephants can also throw dust and sand over their bodies 
by the same means and for the same purpose, and wild animals 
have been frequently observed fanning themselves with leafy boughs 
held in the trunk. The species are at present limited in their 
geographical distribution to the Ethiopian and Oriental regions, but 
they formerly had a far more extensive range. 
Family ELEPHANTID.£. 
Cheek-teeth succeeding one another in an are of a cirele, and 
portions of only two, or at most three, of the hinder teeth in use 
at any one time. Premolars frequently lost, and in any case of no 
functional importance. 
