34 
No. 7.—THE ELEPHANT HOUSE. 
This building was completed in 1875, and cost about 
$38,000. It is one hundred and ninety-five feet long, and 
affords ample accommodations for many of the larger animals. 
Immediately adjoining it is a large pond in which the 
elephants are bathed every afternoon during hot weather. 
Besides being a popular means of diversion to visitors, 
the use of water is a necessity to these animals; their 
skin being exceedingly porous, becomes readily clogged up if 
they are not kept clean, with the result of lessening the 
amount of perspiration, which is one of the chief means of 
removing waste matter from the system, and is absolutely 
necessary to a pure state of the blood. 
A large proportion of the animals in this building belong to 
the order Un^ulala, or hoofed animals, comprising those in 
which the nail grows around the ends of the extremities and 
envelops them in a horny sheath known as the hoof. Some 
of these have one or three toes developed, while another 
group has two or four toes equally complete, the others being 
rudimentary. For purposes of convenience, therefore, the 
existing ungulates have been classed into two sub-orders, the 
Perissodactyla, or odd-toed, as the horse, rhinoceros, and 
tapir, and the Artiodactyla, or even-toed, comprising all the 
split-hoofed animals, as deer, oxen, swine, &c. They are all 
vegetable eaters, and are found in all but the Australian 
region. 
The Wild Boar (Sus scrofa ) of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 
the Javan Swine ( Sus vittatus ), the Red River-hog (. Pota - 
mochcerus porcus ), and the ^Ethiopian Wart Hog ( Phaco - 
chcerus athiopicus ) belong to the family Suidce, or Swine. The 
latter remarkable-looking animal has several fleshy protuber¬ 
ances on the face, looking almost like horns. It is believed 
that these warts have been developed by reason of their serv¬ 
ing to protect the eyes from the upward strokes of the tusks 
in the desperate battles which the males wage against each 
other. 
The peccaries are not true swine, but they do not depart 
widely enough to be entirely separated from the group. 
The Collared Peccary (. Dicotyles tajacu ) ranges from the 
south-western United States into South America, and the 
White-lipped Peccary (D. labiatus) somewhat more southern 
