Cuap. IT.] THE ELEPHANT. 79 
plants; and hence tushes are seldom seen without a 
groove worn into them near their extremities.} 
Amongst other surmises more ingenious than sound, 
the general absence of tusks in the elephant of Ceylon 
has been associated with the profusion of rivers and 
streams in the island; whilst it has been thrown out as 
a possibility that in Africa, where water is comparatively 
scarce, the animal is equipped with these implements in 
order to assist it in digging wells in the sand and in 
raising the juicy roots of the mimosas and succulent 
plants for the sake of their moisture. In support of this 
hypothesis, it has been observed, that whilst the tusks 
of the Ceylon species, which are never required for such 
uses, are slender, graceful and curved, seldom ex- 
ceeding fifty or sixty pounds’ weight, those of the 
African elephant are straight and thick, weighing occa- 
sionally one hundred and fifty, and even three hundred 
pounds.” 
1 The old fallacy is still renewed, 
that the elephant sheds his tusks. 
ELIAN says he drops them once in 
ten years (lib. xiv. c. 5); and Privy 
repeats the story, adding that, 
when dropped, the elephants hide 
them under ground (lib. viii.) 
whence Suaw says, in his Zoology, 
“they are frequently found in the 
woods,” and exported from Africa 
(vol. i. p. 213); and Sir W. Jar- 
ping in the Naturalist’s Library 
(vol. ix. p. 110), says, “‘the tusks 
are shed about the twelfth or thir- 
teenth year.” This is erroneous: 
after losing the first pair, or, as 
they are called, the “ milk tusks,” 
which drop in consequence of the 
absorption of their roots, when the 
animal ig extremely young, the 
second pair acquire their full size, 
and become the ‘“‘permanent tusks,” 
which are never shed. 
? Notwithstanding the inferiority 
in weight of the Ceylon tusks, as 
compared with those of the ele- 
phant of India, it would, I think, 
be precipitate to draw the inference 
that the size of the former was 
uniformly and naturally less than 
that of the latter. The truth, I 
believe to be, that if permitted to 
grow to maturity, the tusks of the 
one would, in all probability, equal 
those of the other; but, so eager 
is the search for ivory in Ceylon, 
that a tusker, when once observed 
in a herd, is followed up with such 
vigilant impatience, that he is al- 
most invariably shot before attain- 
ing his full growth. General Dz 
Lima, when returning from the 
