£24 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 lyth 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 laminse or teeth, 
each covered with its proper enamel ; and these 
