OEDEE OF PACHYDEEMATA. 



The greater nunaber of the animals of which this order is 

 composed are remarkable for the thickness and hardness of their 

 skins, and it is from this characteristic that they derive their 

 name (tto^ic, thick, and B^p/ia, ,skin). In nearly all of them 

 the toes are rendered motionless by a horny covering which 

 surrounds them, called the hoof, which prevents them from seizing- 

 objects, and eutireljr blunts in this part of their bodies the sense 

 of touch. Their digestive organs are not arranged for rumination, 

 which distinguishes them from the order with which we are going 

 to be occupied when we have done with the Pachydermata. 

 Lastl3% they never liave on their foreheads either antlers or horns, 

 which distinguishes them equally from the Rmuinants. It is in 

 the order of Pachydermata that we find the largest of terrestrial 

 animals. 



The Pachydermata are divided into three families : the 

 Elephants or Proboscidea, the Onlinanj Pachydermata, and the 

 Solijx'd or Solidungulated Pachydermata* 



The Family of Elephants, ok Proboscidea. — The Elephants, 

 or Prohoacidva (from the Latin word proboscis, trrmk), are the 

 largest of terrestrial animals, as the '\'\Tiales are the largest 

 of aquatic animals. If size and strength conferred the right 

 of dominion, these two creatures would be able to divide between 

 them the empire of the world. 



The proportions of the Elephant are clumsy, its body is thick 

 and bulky, its gait heavy and awkward ; but its physiognomy 

 is imposing and noble. These giants of creation have a head 



* Professor Owen has arrangeil tlic two latter into those -with an odd nnmher of 

 toes, I'crissodactylii, and those with an even number of toes, Artiodadyla, which 

 latter scein to grade (hy the intervention of extinct genera) into the Paiminautia. 

 The SoUjjids form a division ut I'iiisioi/acti/la. — Ed. 



