170 



R. S. Lull — Evolution of the Elephant. 



could be more unlike than the proboscidians and the fish-like 

 Siren ia with broad swimming tail, front limbs reduced to 

 flippers, and no hind limbs at all. On the other hand, anatom- 

 ists had already recognized certain similarities of structure 

 between the elephants and the Ilyracoidea, the Hyraces, or 

 conies, furry, rabbit-like animals not more than 18 inches 

 in length, short ears, tailless, and with hoof-like nails instead 

 of the claws one would be led to expect from their general 



Fig. 1. The Manatee, Manalus australis ; after Brehrn. 



appearance. They are confined to Africa with the exception 

 of the Syrian conies, which the Book of Proverbs tells us " are 

 but a feeble folk, yet make their houses in the rocks." Recent 

 exploration in Egypt has revealed the presence of a hyrax 

 much larger than the modern representatives of the order, and 

 proclaiming by its structure a much closer approximation with 

 the early elephants whose bones are found entombed in the 

 same deposits. 



Elephants show a curious intermingling of primitive and 

 specialized characters, for in spite of the remarkable develop- 

 ment of teeth, tusks, and trunk, many of the other bodily 

 features would serve to place them among the most archaic of 

 the ungulates. 



The primitive features of the elephants, briefly enumerated, 

 are as follows : simplicity of stomach, liver, and lungs and the 



