172 THE FOOD OF ANIMALS 



on the contrary, can secure with equal ease foliage placed far 

 above the mouth or tufts of grass and the like situated far below 

 it, and it can also be used in the uprooting of small trees, should 

 the upper parts of these take the fancy of its possessor. The 

 tip of the proboscis is extremely sensitive, and so shaped as to 

 be capable of comparatively difficult manipulations. The shape, 

 however, is different in the two existing species, that of the 

 Indian form {Euelephas) having a finger-like prolongation. Ele- 

 phants are further distinguished by remarkable peculiarities in 

 their teeth. Incisors are entirely absent, except two in the upper 

 jaw, which form the offensive and defensive weapons known as 

 tusks. There are no canines, and the cheek-teeth are enormous 



Fig. 420.— Grinders of African (a) and Indian (b) Elephants 



grinders with broad crushing crowns (fig. 420). These succeed 

 one another from behind forward, quite unlike what happens in 

 ordinary Mammals, and so large are they that, at most, parts 

 of two are in use at the same time on either side of the jaw. 

 There is also a complex folding, reminding one of what has been 

 described for Ruminants. It may be understood by supposing 

 the tooth to be thrown into a number of transverse folds with 

 deep valleys between them, each fold consisting of hard dentine 

 covered by still harder enamel, while the valleys are filled by 

 comparatively soft cement resembling bone in nature. On looking 

 at the crown of a worn tooth of the African Elephant {Loxodon), 

 the folds are seen to be comparatively few and somewhat lozenge- 

 shaped, while in the Indian species they are much more numerous, 

 relatively narrow, and somewhat wavy. It should further be noted 

 that an elephant's grinder rises into position obliquely, so that 

 the hinder folds are not at first brought into wear. The stomach 

 is simple, but adaptations to vegetable food are present in the 

 form of a large broad ccenim, while the intestines reach the length 

 of from 106 to 125 feet, or to put it graphically, the intestines of 

 three elephants, stretched out and placed end to end, would con- 

 siderably more than suffice to mark out a course for a loo-yards 

 race. 



