OF LIVING ELEPHANTS. 



187 



its humeral surface bd is slightly concave, oblong, and its length is 

 double of its breadth. 



The humerus {pi. 1 ,fig. 3 and 4) is easily distinguished from that of 

 the other great quadrupeds : 1st, because its external condyloid ridge 

 a b, ascends to above the third of its height, and terminates there by a 

 sensible angle, and an edge which is suddenly re-entrant; 2nd, because its 

 deltoid ridge, d, which is obtuse, descends lower than the centre of the 

 bone : in these two respects, there is some resemblance with that of the 

 bear. The external tuberosity c is raised above the head, and is flat 

 and compressed. From before backwards (cjig. 3) it is as large as the 

 entire head transversely. The bicipital groove is deep, and continued 

 forward. The inferior pully, be is a simple shallow canal: the bone 

 has no foramen above the internal condyle. 



The fore- a7-7n (pi. 13, fig. 20, 21, 22, 23,) has a very remarkable 

 character, and one of which I know no other instance in living animals ; 

 it is that the upper head of the radius, a, is grasped, and as it were en- 

 chased between two apophyses of that of the cubitus, which are two 

 productions of the sigmoid surface. As this head is not round, the 

 motion of rotation is impossible. The radius passes obliquely over the 

 anterior surface of the cubitus, in order to terminate at its internal side 

 by a head c, larger than its upper head, but less than the inferior head 

 of the cubitus d ; this radius is rather slender, and slightly arched. 

 The cubitus besides this bifurcation of the sigmoid cavity, is enlarged 

 at the two extremities ; at the olecranon a little elongated above, large 

 at the end ; the lower head increased in size. 



5. — Great Bones of the Posterior Extremity. 

 The pelvis of the elephant (p/. 7, skeL, and pi. 13, fig. 3 and 4,) is 

 very remarkable by its transverse, or rather vertical disposition, which 

 causes the pubis to be as far forward, as the summit of the os ilium, 

 and the latter to extend from right to left, and in width at the same 

 time that it attains great size, instead of remaining narrow and of being 

 directed from before backward, as in most quadrupeds. Its ventral 

 surface is concave, as in man ; its anterior edge a b, proceeding from 

 the sacrum to the spine, is broadest and most convex ; the spine forms 

 a hook, as in man, but more considerable. 



The rhinoceros alone bears a slight resemblance to the elephant 

 in the pelvis, but it has the neck of the ischium much longer in pro- 

 portion. 



The female elephant has the pelvis more open than the male, and 

 the edges of the strait are sharper. 



The femur (^pl. 11, fig. 7 and 10) is singularly flattened from before 

 backwards, especially in the lower half, and is distinguished from 

 that of other large animals by the simplicity of its forms. Almost all 

 at once, tolerably enlarged at the extremities, its rotular pully ascends 

 considerably forward, is there nearly symmetrical, and occupies only the 

 third of the breadth of the lower head. A broad fissure separates the 

 two condyles behind. The two diameters of the lower head are nearly 

 equal. Above, the great trochanter is elevated less than the head: the 

 small one is almost obliterated. There is no third trochanter. The 

 fossa behind the great trochanter has but little depth. It is quite im- 



