THE INDIAN ELEPHANT. 



3i 



diminishing with the steady diminution in 

 the number of the -animals. While in 18 10 

 the tusks exported from Africa weighed on 

 an average about 29 lbs., this average has 

 decreased since then by about one-third. 



Though the tusks in both species are pretty 

 much alike, this is not the case with the 

 molars. Those of the African elephant ex- 

 hibit on the grinding surface at most twelve 

 lozenge-shaped bands of enamel, the middle 

 angles of which almost touch one another. 

 In early years these teeth with their tubercled 

 lamellae of enamel still unworn resemble in a 

 certain measure those of the mastodons, and 

 it may be said in general that, as regards the 

 dentition, the inferior development of the 

 frontal spaces, and a number of other char- 

 acters belonging to the skeleton, the African 

 elephant has preserved many archaic forms. 



The ancients used to tame this species 

 and employed a large number in their circus 

 games as well as in war. In the time of the 

 Caesars thousands of elephants were caught 

 every year and sent to Rome to be trained 

 to all the arts for which Asiatic elephants are 

 now used. In our time hunters have begun 

 to send over young specimens to our zoo- 

 logical gardens. 



The chase of the wild elephant is not in- 

 deed without danger, but cannot be compared 

 in this respect with that of other large ani- 

 mals. The elephant is essentially timid; it 

 flees when it can, and though when wounded 

 it darts with fury on its pursuer, it is not 

 very adroit in its defence, and usually spends 

 its strength in vain. The hunters of various 

 tribes of Inner Africa pursue it on horseback 

 or on foot armed only with a two-handed 

 sword. While one of the hunters keeps the 

 elephant engaged, the others seek to approach 

 him in order to cut through at a stroke the 

 sinews of the foot, or even to cut the trunk 

 itself in two. In other regions the elephants 

 are inclosed in a ring of fire by setting fire 

 to the tall grasses of the steppes, and in 

 other places again they are entrapped in 



carefully concealed pits. But all these earlier 

 modes of elephant hunting are gradually giv- 

 ing place to the method introduced by Euro- 

 peans, that of shooting them with heavy 

 bullets shot from rifles specially made for the 

 purpose. The hunter adopting this method 

 usually follows the elephant on horseback. 

 The ball is fatal only when it strikes behind 

 the ear, the only part of the head at which it 

 can penetrate to the brain, or behind the 

 shoulder-blade so as to reach the heart. 

 The thick, tough hide is often used to cover 

 shields or to make into straps, but in most 

 cases the hunter contents himself with hew- 

 ing out the tusks, leaving the carcass to the 

 hyaenas and vultures. 



The Indian Elephant (Eleftkas indicus), 

 Plate XVIII., is not so large and has not such 

 long slim legs as that of Africa. The fore- 

 head is somewhat depressed in the middle 

 and highly arched at the sides. The ears 

 are much smaller and have the form of paper- 

 cornets with the points hanging down and 

 the upper edge rolled in. The tusks of the 

 male are straighter and not so large. The 

 molars are specially characteristic. The 

 grinding surface exhibits a great number of 

 transverse enamel plates, which form a series 

 of closely adjoining very narrow ellipses, so 

 that one may say that the whole tooth is 

 transversely striped with narrow plates of 

 enamel which are united in pairs at the edges 

 of the tooth. As fossil species are found 

 similar to the African elephant in respect of 

 its dentition, so also are there fossil species 

 the molars of which resembled in structure 

 those of the Indian elephant. Of these the 

 best known is the mammoth {E. primigenius), 

 a gigantic species with enormous highly-re- 

 curved tusks, which lived along with man in 

 great numbers on the whole of the European 

 continent during the Quaternary period, and 

 at the end of this period perished in heaps in 

 the Polar regions. As has been proved by 

 the discovery of well-preserved carcasses of 

 this species in the frozen diluvium on the 



