PROBOSCIDIANS gi 



C. The Elephant a Herbivorous Animal. 



1. Eequiring as it does an immense amount of food, the mouth 

 of the elephant is furnished with gigantic molars for crushing the same. 

 There is, however, only one of these teeth in each jaw, though its size 

 (about 16 inches long and nearly 4 inches broad) makes up for the 

 paucity in the number of these teeth. They are, in reality, compound 

 teeth, each being composed of several transverse plates. As they are 

 worn away by constant use, they are replaced by others, which are 

 developed behind them, and continuously pushed further forwards. 



2. The muscles by which these teeth are set to work must be of 

 equally gigantic size. Moreover, the tusks referred to below (in § 5) 

 require to be firmly seated. These conditions explain the size of the 

 head. The bones of the skull are of uncommon thickness, causing the 

 head to appear extremely high, and also affording adequate surfaces of 

 attachment for the muscles. To prevent an unnecessary increase in the 

 weight of the skull, these bones contain air-cavities of dimensions not 

 met with in any other mammal. 



3. Mammals which are obliged to pick up their food from the ground 

 (compare them with arboreal, aerial and aquatic animals) must either 

 have a neck of sufficient length to enable their mouths to reach the 

 ground, or they must be furnished with prehensile, hand-like fore-limbs, 

 by which they may convey their food to the mouth. Now, the fore-limbs 

 of the elephant are not adapted for performing work of this kind, and 

 we can imagine what enormous muscles would be required to move 

 the skull with its huge tusks, if the latter was attached to a long neck. 

 Accordingly, the task of conveying the food to the mouth is consigned 

 to the trunk, or proboscis, which is nothing more than an elongation 

 of the nose. The nasal septum extends to the tip of the trunk, 

 which is developed into a very movable, finger-like appendage. A large 

 number of muscles impart to the trunk its extraordinary mobility 

 and extensibility. It is not only an organ of smell, but also of touch 

 and of prehension. By its aid the elephant can pick up tiny objects 

 from the ground, as well as tear stout trees up by their roots. It 

 uses it for tearing huge bunches of grass from the earth or of twigs 

 from the trees, and can even break off with it and convey to its mouth 

 branches as thick as a man's arm. It also uses it for sucking up water, 

 which it then squirts into its mouth or over its back as a cooling shower- 

 bath. Thus, the trunk is to the elephant finger, hand and arm com- 

 bined. Its presence is really indispensable to the animal, on account 

 of— 



4. The shortness of the neck. The extraordinary mobility and pre- 



