Chap. XVII. 
LAW OF BATTLE. 
257 
though having so short a neck and so unwieldy a body, 
can strike either upwards, or downwards, or side- 
ways, with equal dexterity.'’ The Indian elephant 
fights, as I was informed by the late Dr. Falconer, in a 
diflerent manner according to the position and curvature 
of his tusks. When they are directed forwards and 
upwards he is able to fling a tiger to a great distance — 
it is said to even thirty feet ; when they are short and 
turned downwards he endeavours suddenly to pin the 
tiger to the ground, and in consequence is danger- 
ous to the rider, who is liable to be jerked off the 
hoodah.^^ 
Very few male quadrupeds possess weapons of two 
distinct kinds specially adapted for fighting with rival 
males. The male muntjac-deer (Cervulus), however, 
offers an exception, as he is provided with horns and 
exserted canine teeth. But one form of weapon, has 
often been replaced in the course of ages by another 
form, as we may infer from what follows. With ru- 
minants the development of horns generally stands 
in an inverse relation with that of even moderately 
well-developed canine teeth. Thus camels, guanacoes, 
chevrotains and musk-deer, are hornless, and they 
have efficient canines ; these teeth being always of 
smaller size in the females than in the males.” The 
Camelidse have in their upper jaws, in addition to 
their true canines, a pair of canine-shaped incisors.^^ 
Male deer and antelopes, on the other hand, possess 
horns, and they rarely have canine teeth; and these 
when present are always of small size, so that it is 
Lamont, ‘ Seasons with the Sea-Horses,’ 1861, p. 141. 
See also Corse (‘ Philosoph. Transact.’ 1799, p. 212) on the man- 
ner in which the short-tusked Mooknah variety of the elephant attacks 
other elephants. 
Owen, ‘ Anatomy of Vertebrates,’ vol. iii. p. 349. 
VOL. IT. 
S 
