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Show 170 MAMMALIA. which we designate collectively by the term Pachydermata, admit of subdivision into families. The :first is that of the Pachydermata which have a pro-boscis and tusks. FAMILY I. PROBOSCIDIANA.(l) The Proboscidians have five toes to each foot, very com~ plete in the skeleton, but so encrusted by the callous skin which surrounds the foot, that their only external appearance is in the nails attached to the edge of this species of hoof. They have no canini or incisors properly so ca~led, bu~ in their incisive bone are implanted two tusks, wh1ch proJect from the mouth, and frequently attain to an enormous size. The magnitude requisite for the alveoli of these tusks ren· ders 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 continued out into a cylindrical trunk or proboscis, composed of several thousands of small muscles, variously interlaced, extremely :flexible, endowed with the most exquisite sensibility, and ter· minated by an appendage resembling a finger. This probos· cis is to the Elephant what the hand is to the Monkey. With it he seizes every thing he wishes to convey to his mouth, and sucks up the water he is to drink, which, by the flexure of this admirable organ, is then poured into his throat, thus supplying the want of a long neck, whose weakness would have rendered it unable to support so large a head and such heavy tusks. Within the parietes of the cranium, how· ever, are several great cavities, which render the head lighter; the lower jaw has no incisors whatever; the intestines are very voluminous, the stomach simple, crecum enormous, and (1) The Proboscidinns have various affinities with certain Rodentia: 1, their great incisors; 2, their grinders frequently composed of parallel lamina:; 3, the form of sev-eral of their bones, &c. P ACHYDERMA T A. 171 the mammre, two in number, placed under the chest. The young suck with the mouth, and not with the trunk. But one living genus of the Proboscidiana is known, that of ELEPHAs, Lin. Or the Elephant, which comprehends the largest of the terrestrial Mammalia. The astonishing nature of his trunk, an instrument at once agile and powerful, the organ of touch as well as of smell, forms a singular contrast with his clumsy aspect and heavy proportions; and as this is joined to a very imposing physiognomy, it has contributed to exaggerate the intelligence of these animals. After studying them for a long time, we have not found it to surpass that of the Dog, or of several other carnivorous animals. Naturally of a mild disposition, Elephants live in herds, which are conducted by old males. Their food is strictly vegetable. Their distinctive character consists in the grinders, the bodies of which are composed of a certain number of vertical laminre, each one being formed of a bony substance, enveloped with enamel, and cemented together by a third substance, called cortical; in a word, similar to those we have already seen to exist in the Cabiais and other Rodentia. These grinders succeed each other, not vertically, or as our permanent teeth succeed the first ones, but from behind forwards, so that as fast as one tooth becomes worn, it is pushed forward by that which comes after it; hence it happens that the Elephant has sometimes one, sometimes two grinders on each side, or four or eight in all, according to circumstances. The first of these teeth are always composed of fewer laminre than those which replace them. It is asserted that certain Elephants thus shed their teeth eight times-their tusks, however, are changed but once. The Elephants of the present day, clothed with a rough skin nearly destitute of hair, are only found in the torrid zone of the eastern continent, where hitherto only two species have been ascertained. E. indicus, Cuv.; Buff. XI, i, and Supp. III, lix. (The Elephant oflndia.) An oblong head; the crown of the grinders presenting transverse undulating fillets, which are sections of the laminre which compose them worn by trituration. This spe~ cies has rather smaller ears than the next one, and has four nails to the hind foot. It is found from the Indus to the Eastern ocean, and in the large islands in the south of India. They have been used from the earliest ages as beasts of draught and burden, but it has hitherto been found impossible to make them propagate in a domestic state, although the assertion respecting their modesty and repugnance to copulate before witnesses is |
