532 
THE LIVING WORLD. 
tactile service of the human hand, the suction tube of the bee, the arms of the ape. 
To the elephant the proboscis represents an organ for seizing, a means of respira¬ 
tion, scent, taste, touch, suction and power of grasping. Great is its need for a 
union of sensibility and power; for it must deal with the grass as well as'with 
the full grown tree ; must be able to pick up a nail as well as to lift an engine; 
must brush off a fly as well as smite a formidable foe. The elephant believes 
in the political prin¬ 
ciple of clanship, and 
will admit to compan¬ 
ionship no elephant not 
bom within the fold, nor 
if born, if it has ever 
strayed from home. It 
recognizes no return for 
prodigal sons, and once 
an elephant strays from 
the family circle, a va¬ 
grant is he to remain for¬ 
ever, and as if he were 
an Ishmael; every ele¬ 
phant’s hand is to be 
against him, and his 
against all his fellows! 
These estrays are called 
rogues, and wandering 
about without other com¬ 
pany than their own, de¬ 
velop abnormally a 
spirit of mischief and 
malice. 
The African Ele¬ 
phant (.Elephas afri- 
canus ) is generally sup¬ 
posed to be smaller than 
his Asiatic congener, but 
authorities differ upon 
this point. Its head is 
rounded, and it has 
three instead of four 
nails on its hind feet. 
It has not in modern 
times been domesticated, 
a bull elephant defending its young. although Roman coins 
make it clear that it 
was used as a beast of burden during the continuation of Rome as a gov¬ 
ernment. Some authorities assert that the elephants used by Hannibal, 
by the Carthaginians, by the Egyptians and by the Romans, were from Africa, 
others claim that they were from Asia. Herds as large as eight hundred in 
number have been met, and three hundred is no unusual size. The male 
