ELEPHANTS. 



69 



developed during the animal's life in both jaws. The most dis- 

 tinguishing external feature of the group is the extension of the 

 upper lip and nose into the long, flexible and prehensile trunk or 

 proboscis (fig. 51), at the tip of which are situated the nostrils. 



The largest of all land Mammals, Elephants are exclusively 

 vegetable-feeders, subsisting chiefly upon leaves and young 

 branches of forest-trees, or upon both these and roots. Both liquid 

 and solid food are conveyed to the mouth by means of the proboscis 

 in the case of adults, although the young suck with their mouths. 



For the past history of the Proboscidea the reader may be 

 referred to the specimens in the Geological Department and the 

 Guide devoted to their description. 



The Asiatic or Indian Elephant, which ranges from India and 

 Ceylon through Burma and the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, is 

 characterised by the relative flatness of the forehead, the com- 

 paratively small ears, and the regularly tapering and perfectly 

 elastic trunk ; the tail has two rows of bristles at the tip and a 

 short distance above ; and the trunk has one rather large finger- 

 like process on the front edge of its extremity (fig. 51, A). The 



Fig. 51. 



A B 



Tip of Trunk of the Asiatic (A) and the African Elephant (B). 



hind- foot has four nails, whereas there are generally only three in 

 the African species. Usually the females have very small tusks, 

 which do not project beyond the jaw, and in some cases the sauie 

 holds good with males, such tuskless males being termed Maknas. 

 In Ceylon the indigenous race seems to have been tuskless. In the 

 Malay countries the species is prone to partial albinism ; specimens 

 in which this feature is most developed constituting the sacred 

 <c white elephants " of Burma and Siam. The Indian Elephant 

 feeds chiefly on grasses, sugar-cane, and leaves. Being extremely 

 impatient of the sun's rays, in the hot weather it passes the day 



