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Show 422 MR. W. A. FORBES ON THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. [May 6, who have dissected the Indian species1 make it advisable to put on record any observations, however fragmentary, for the benefit ot future dissectors of either of these huge animals. .... The subject of these notes was a young female, which had been in the possession of the Alexandra Company only about eighteen months, but was probably four or five years old at the time of its death. I took the following measurements of the carcass :- inches. From forehead to root of tail (along back) 78 Length of tail, from root 26| Height at shoulder (measured to spines of vertebrae over body) 58 Circumference of right foot, fore 25 Circumference of right foot, hind 25 Length of ear, from front of meatus 19 Greatest depth 27 These measurements show that the ordinarily accepted rule that the height of an Elephant = twice the circumference of its feet very nearly expresses tbe truth. As usual in this species, the fore limbs were provided with four, the hind with three nails. There were eight molars in all in place. In all those of the upper jaw I counted five plates; in those of the lower, there were six in the first, and seven in the second, tooth, of each side. The most remarkable point observed, when the ribs and other walls of the right side of the body had been removed, was the enormous extent of the thoracic cavity, which extended backwards above till near the sacrum, and the comparatively small part occupied by the abdominal viscera; this was, as far as I could judge, not more than about one third of the whole trunk. As is usually the case with Elephants, there was no fat visible, either in the subcutaneous tissue or in any part of the abdominal cavity. Mouth and Tongue.-The palate, gums, and cheeks were throughout smooth, with no ridges or papillae, except a few small caruncular projections near the anterior ends of the lower gums. The tongue (fig. 1, p. 423), as in the Indian species, is small for the size of the animal, much compressed, and rather deep2. Its anterior end alone is free for about 2\ inches, and is bent down at an angle with the rest of the organ, and somewhat pointed. The length of the tongue in a straight line was 13j inches, along the curve 15 inches. The filiform papillae are e.\tremely fine and small, so that the tongue has an almost velvety touch. At the sides of the anterior part, ex- 1 The amount of literature on the anatomy of the Indian Elephant is very considerable. A resume of tbe principal papers on the subject will be found in Messrs. Miall and Greenwood's ' Anatomy of the Indian Elephant' (pp. 6, 7), recently published, a book which is itself a useful compendium of our present knowledge of Proboscidean anatomy. The myology, however, is described at greater length than any other parts. 2 Dr. Mojsisovics's figure (I. c. Taf. v. fig. 1) is evidently taken from a preserved and distorted specimen, and fails to show accuratelv tbe real shape of the tongue when fresh. |