102 CHARACTERS OF VERTEBRATE ANIMALS 



neck, and the nostrils are situated at the end of a broad muzzle, 

 provided with thick fleshy lips beset with moustache hairs. There 

 are also eyelashes, and the thick skin is covered with short stiff 

 hairs. They subsist entirely on vegetable food, and simple 

 grinding teeth are present in both genera. A pair of mammary 

 glands are found on the breast. 



The Dugong {Halicore Dugong) is i6 or 17 feet long, and 

 frequents the shores of the Indian Ocean, while the somewhat 

 smaller Manatee {Manatus) (fig. 69) is found on the west coast 

 of Africa and the east coast of America, from the Gulf of Mexico 

 southwards. A certain interest attaches to these creatures from 

 the fact that they appear to be the chief foundation for legends of 

 mermaids and mermen. It requires a pretty vivid imagination,, 

 however, to see any resemblance in these uncouth animals to 

 the golden-haired conventionalities which have gradually been 

 evolved from the inner consciousness of artist and poet. 



Order 8. — Elephants (Proboscidea) 



These familiar mammals, the largest of existing land animals, 

 are in many respects primitive in structure, particularly as regards 

 the limbs, which possess five digits, united together into flat 

 rounded feet, provided with a varying number of small hoofs. 

 The limbs are very thick and pillar-like, being thus enabled to 

 support the enormous weight of the body. Elephants, however, 

 are very highly specialized as regards the structure of the head, of 

 which the most striking feature is the trunk, or prolonged snout, 

 at the end of which the nostrils are situated. The uses of this 



B remarkable organ 



are innumerable, 

 and there can be no 

 doubt that its de- 



Fig. 70.— A, Last Lower Tooth (molar) of Indian Elephant. B, Last Lower vplotlmpnt ha"? IpH 

 Tooth (molar) of African Elephant. r 



to a corresponding 

 growth of intelligence. The teeth are highly peculiar, only two 

 kinds, incisors and molars, being present Of the former only an 

 upper pair exists, modified in the male, or it may be in both sexes, 

 into the well-known tusks, which are composed entirely of ivory or 

 dentine (see p. 35). The molars are enormous, and possess broad 

 grinding crowns, provided with numerous transverse ridges (fig. 70). 

 For the most part only four are in place at once, one on each side 



