ELEPHANT, TAPIR, HYRAX, RHINOCEROS 157 
Mithridates, who, I suppose, 1 
drew his supply from India? 
I know in the representations 
of elephants on the medals of 
Faustina and of Septimus 
Severus the ears are African, 
though the bodies and heads 
are Indian; but these were 
struck nearly 400 years after 
Carthaginian times, when the 
whole known world had been 
ransacked by the Romans for 
beasts for their public shows; 
and I still think it possible 
that the Carthaginians—the 
great traders and colonisers 
of old—may have obtained: 
elephants through some of 
their colonies from India.” 
An interesting example 
of the intelligence of these 
animals can be seen any 
day at the public Zoological 
Gardens. A large African ele- 
phant restores to his would-be 
entertainers all the biscuits, 
whole or broken, which strike 
the bars and fall alike out ] LD , WE 
of: his reach and theirs in Photc by L. Medland, F.Z.S.] [No-th Finchley 
the space between the barrier MALE AFRICAN ELEPHANT DRINKING 
and: his cage. He points his Not the great size of the tusks and base of the trunk 
trunk at the: biscuits, and 
blows them hard along the floor to the feet of the persons who have thrownthem. He clearly knows 
what he is doing, because, if the biscuits do not travel far enough, he gives them a harder blow. 
TAPIRS AND HYRAX. 
; BY W. P. PYCRAFT, A.LS., F.Z.S. 
Tapirs are odd-looking creatures, and, strange as it may seem, are nevertheless related on 
the one hand to the rhinoceroses, and on the other to the horses. They are furthermore 
extremely interesting animals, because they have undergone less modification of form than any 
other members of the group to which they belong. This we know because fossil tapirs, belonging 
toa very remote period of the world’s history, are practically indistinguishable from those now living. 
The general form of the body may perhaps be described as pig-like; the head, too, suggests 
that animal. But the pig’s snout is here produced into a short proboscis, or trunk. The feet are 
quite unlike those of the pig, and resemble those of the rhinoceros. The fore feet have each 
four and the hind feet three toes; these are all encased in large horse-like hoofs. The tail is 
reduced to a mere stump. 
Tapirs are shy and inoffensive animals, living in the seclusion of dense forests in the neigh- 
bourhood of water, in which element they are quite at home; indeed, it is said that they wilt 
frequently dive and walk along the bed of the river. They are also fond of wallowing in mud, 
II 
