MAMMALIA. 
128 
THE SEVENTH ORDER OF MAMMALIANS. 
PACHYDERM AT A. 
The Edentata terminate the series of unguiculated Mammalia, and we have just seen that 
there are some of them with claws so large, and so enveloping the ends of the toes, as to 
approximate to the nature of hoofs. Nevertheless, they have still the faculty of bending|5 
these toes round various objects, and of seizing with more or less force. The entire absence** 
of this faculty characterizes the hoofed animals. Using their feet only as supports, they in no 
instance possess clavicles. Their fore-arms remain constantly in the state of pronation, / 
whence they are reduced to feed on vegetables. Their forms and mode of life present there- . 
fore much less variety than in the unguiculated animals, and they can hardly be divided into,, 
more than two orders, — those which ruminate, and those Mdiich do not ; but the latter, which; 
we bring together under the general term Pachydermata, admits of some subdivision into| 
families. 
The first is that of the Pachyderms, which have a proboscis and tusks, or the 
Proboscidea,* — 
Which are distinguished by having five toes to each foot, very complete in the skeleton, but 
so enveloped by the callous skin which surrounds the foot, that their only external appearance 
consists in the nails attached to the extremity of this species of hoof. They have no canines, 
nor incisors properly speaking; but in the incisive [or intermaxillary] bones are implanted! ; 
two defensive tusks, which project from the mouth, and frequently attain enormous dimen- f ( 
sions. The magnitude of the sockets necessary to hold these tusks renders the upper jaw so 
high, and so shortens the bones of the nose, that the nostrils in the skeleton are placed near^ 
the top of the face : but in the living animal they are prolonged into a cylindrical trunk 
composed of several thousands of small muscles variously interlaced, flexible in all directions, | 
endowed with exquisite sensibility, and terminated by an appendage like a finger. This trunk^ 
imparts to the Elephant as much address as the perfection of the hand does to the Monkey.® 
It enables him to seize whatever he wishes to convey to his mouth, and sucks up the water 1 
he is to drink, which, by the flexure of this admirable organ, is then poured into the throat, * 
thus supplying the want of a long neck, which could not have supported so large a head with 
its heavy tusks. Within the parietes of the cranium, however, are several great cavities 
which render the head lighter : the lower jaw [except in a fossil genus when immature,] has 
no incisors whatever ; the intestines are very voluminous ; the stomach simple ; coecum 
enormous ; the mammse, two in number, placed under the chest. The young suek with the 
mouth and not with the trunk. Only one living genus exists, that of 
The Elephants {Elephas, Lin.), — ^ 
Which comprehends the largest of terrestrial Mammalia. The astonishing services performed by their'' 
trunk, an instrument at once supple and vigorous, an organ both of touch and smell, contrast forcibly ? 
with the clumsy aspect and massive proportions of these animals ; and being conjoined to a very ' 
imposing physiognomy, have contributed to exaggerate their intellect. After studying them for a long 
time, we have not found it to surpass that of the Dog, or of several other Carnaria. Naturally of a 
mild disposition. Elephants live in troops conducted by the old males. They subsist wholly on 
vegetables. 
Their distinctive character consists in the grinders, the bodies of which are composed of a certain! 
number of vertical laminte, each formed of a bony substance, enveloped with enamel, and cemented 3 
* The Proboscideans have various affinities with certain Rodents ; 
Istly, in the magnitude of their incisors [tusks] ; 2ndly, in tlieir 
grinders being often formed of parallel laminae ; 3rdly, in the form of j 
several of their bones, &c. 
