224 GREAT ELEPHANT. 



which has arrived at its full time, these deciduous 

 tusks are formed. A young Elephant shed one 

 of his milk- tusks on the 6th of November, 1790, 

 when about thirteen months old; and the other 

 on the 7th of December, when above four months 

 old. Two months afterwards the permanent ones 

 cut the gums, and on the 19th of April, 1791, 

 they were an inch long. Another young Ele- 

 phant did not shed his milk-tusks till he was six- 

 teen months old, which proves that the time of 

 this process varies considerably. The permanent 

 tusks of the female are very small, compared with 

 those of the male; and do not take their rise so 

 deep in the jaw. The largest Elephant tusks Mr. 

 Corse ever saw in Bengal did not exceed the 

 weight of seventy-two pounds avoirdupois: at 

 Tiperah they seldom exceed fifty pounds each. 

 Both these weights are very inferior to that 

 of the tusks brought from other parts to the 

 India House, where some have weighed 150 

 pounds each. These, Mr. Corse suspects, were 

 from Pegu. The African Elephant is said ' to 

 be smaller than the Asiatic : yet the ivory-deal- 

 ers in London affirm that the largest tusks come 

 from Africa, and are of a better texture, and less 

 liable to turn yellow, than the Indian ones. The 

 increase of the tusks arises from circular layers of 

 ivory, applied internally, from the core on which 

 they are formed; similar to what happens in the 

 horns of some animals. 



The grinders of Elephants may be considered 

 as composed of several distinct laminae or teeth, 

 each covered with its proper enamel; and these 



