116 MAMMALIA-. 



little eminences, which resemble the feet [or, rather, not the feet, 

 but the pro-legs] of Silkworms. 



The first portion of the trunk is situated at the point which 

 forms the extremity of the nose in other animals ; it serves it in 

 lieu of a nose, since the interior side serves as a lip, and the 

 nostrils are placed within ; in fact, this organ is hollow in the 

 interior, and a partition divides it into two channels. At the 

 point at which these channels or pipes touch the bony walls which 

 terminate them, and which contain the organ of scent, they are 

 provided with a little cartilaginous and elastic valve, which the 

 animal can open and shut at will. This arrangement prevents 

 the liquids used as drink from entering into the organ specially 

 intended for the sense of smelling. 



Between the internal channels of the trunk and its external 

 membrane are implanted numerous longitudinal, transversal, and 

 radiating muscles, the contraction or dilation of which bring 

 about or cause the quickest, strongest, and most varied movements 

 and inflections. The trunk is terminated in a concavity, in the 

 indentation of which are the orifices of the nostrils. The upper 

 part of the border is prolonged into a sort of finger, which is 

 about five inches long. This extremity seizes hold of objects with 

 so much delicacy, that it can pick up a grain of wheat, a fly, or 

 a straw. 



The Elephant's tusks are nothing but the incisive teeth pro- 

 digiously elongated. Turned obliquely downwards, forwards, out- 

 wards, and ultimately upwards. They are sometimes more than 

 two metres and a half in length, and weigh as many as from fifty 

 to sixty kilograimnes. In the females they are sometimes very 

 slightly elongated, and do not project beyond the lips.* 



The tusks serve the Elephant for defensive and ofiensive weapons. 

 They protect the trunk, which curls up between them, when 

 the animal traverses woods in which there are many thorns, 

 prickles, and thick brushwood. The Elephant also uses them for 

 putting aside and holding down the branches, when, with its trimk, 

 it is about to pluck off the tops of leafy boughs. 



The ivory, which is so much used in trade, and which is so 



* In the Indian species they are indeed wanting in the females, so also, either 

 one or both of them, in not a few of the males, which are styled Makiias, while the 

 tusked males are called Dent'halas. — Ed. 



