Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 15.djvu/446

Rh 424 MAMMALIA [UNGULATA. which completely fills up the valleys, and gives a general smooth appearance to the organ when unworn ; but as the wear consequent upon the masticating process proceeds, the alternate layers of tissue of different hardness cementum, dentine, and enamel which are disclosed upon the surface form a fine and very efficient triturating instrument. The modification of the tooth of a Mastodon into that of an Elephant is therefore precisely the same in principle as that of the molar of a Palaeotherium into that of a Horse (see vol. xiii. p. 174), or of the corresponding tooth of one of the primitive Artiodactyles into that of an Ox. The intermediate stages, moreover, even in the present state of our knowledge, are so numerous that it is not possible to draw a definite line between the two types of tooth structure (see fig. 102, II, III, IV). As regards the mode of succession, that of modern Elephants is, as before mentioned, very peculiar. During the complete lifetime of the animal there are but six molar teeth on each side of each jaw, with occasionally a rudimentary one in front, completing the typical number of seven. The last three represent the true molars of ordinary mammals ; those in front appear to be milk molars, which are never replaced by permanent successors, but the whole series gradually moves forwards in the jaw, and the teeth become worn away and their remnants cast out in front, while development of others proceeds behind. The individual teeth are so large, and the processes of growth and destruction by wear take place so slowly, that not more than one, or portions of two, teeth are ever in place and in use on each side of each jaw at one time, and the whole series of changes coincides with the usual duration of the animal s life. On the other hand, the Dinotherium, the opposite extreme of the Proboscidean series, has the whole of the molar teeth in place and use at one time, and the milk molars are vertically displaced by premolars in the ordinary fashion. Among Mastodons transitional forms occur in the mode of succession as well as in structure, many species showing a vertical displacement of one or more of the milk molars, and the same has been observed in one extinct species of Elephant (E. planifrons) as regards .the posterior of these teeth. All known Proboscideans are animals of large dimensions, and some are the most colossal of land mammals. The head is of great proportionate size ; and, as the brain case increases but little in bulk during growth, while the FIG. 103. A Section of the Skull of the African Elephant (Elephas africanm) taken to the left of the middle line, and including the vomer (Vo) and the mesethmoid (ME), an, anterior, and pn, posterior narial aperture. A nat. size. Flower s Osteology of Mammalia. exterior wall of the skull is required to be of great super ficial extent to support the trunk and the huge and ponderous tusks, and to afford space for the attachment of muscles of sufficient size and strength to wield the skull thus heavily weighted, an extraordinary development of air-cells takes place in the cancellous tissue of nearly all the bones of the cranium. These cells are not only formed in the walls of the cranium proper, but are also largely developed in the nasal bones and upper part of the prc- maxilke and maxillse, the bones forming the palate and the basi-cranial axis, and even extend into the interior of the ossified mesethmoid and vomer. Where two originally distinct bones come into contact, the cells pass freely from one to the other, and almost all the sutures become obliterated in old animals. The intercellular lamellae in the great mass which surrounds the brain cavity superiorly and laterally mostly radiate from the inner to the outer table, but in the other bones their direction is more irregular. Like the similar but less developed air-cells iu the skulls of many other mammals, they all communicate with the nasal passages, and they are entirely secondary to the original growth of the bones, their development having scarcely commenced in the new-born animal, and they gradu ally enlarge as the growth of the creature proceeds towards maturity. The nasal bones are very short, and the anterior narial aperture situated high in the face. The zygomatic arch is slender and straight, the malar bones being small, and forming only the middle part of the arch, the anterior part of which (unlike that of all true Ungulates) is formed only by the maxilla. The maxillo-turbinals are but rudimentary, the elongated proboscis supplying their place functionally in warming and clearing from dust the inspired air. The neck is very short. The limbs are long and stout, and remarkable for the great length of the upper segment (especially the femur) as compared with the distal segment, the manus and pes. It is owing to this and the vertical position of the femur that the knee-joint in the hind leg is placed much lower, and is more conspicuous externally than in most quadrupedal mammals, and, this having been erro neously compared with the hock-joint or ankle of Ungulates, the popular fallacy that the joints of the Elephant s leg bend in a contrary direction to that of other mammals has arisen. There is no round ligament in the hip-joint, or third trochanter to the femur. The radius and ulna are distinct, though fixed in a crossed or prone position. The fibula also is quite distinct from the tibia. The feet are short and broad, the carpal and tarsal bones being very square, with flattened surfaces for articulation ; the astragalus especially differs from that of true Ungulates in its flatness, in the absence of a distinct pulley-like articular surface at either extremity, and in having no articular facet for the cuboid. The fibula articulates with the calcaneum, as in Artiodactyles. Of the five toes present on each extremity (see fig. 100), the middle one is somewhat the largest, and the lateral ones smallest, and generally wanting (especially in the hind foot) the complete number of phalanges. The ungual phalanges are all small, irregular in form, and late in ossification. The whole are encased in a common in tegument, with a flat, subcircular, truncated sole, the only external indication of the toes being the broad oval nails or hoofs arranged in a semicircle around the front edge of the sole. The hind foot is smaller and narrower than the front. The liver is small and simple, and there is no gall bladder. In form the brain resembles that of the Rodents and other lower orders of mammals, the cerebellum being entirely behind and uncovered by the cerebrum, but the hemispheres of the latter are richly convoluted. The Proboscidea are exclusively vegetable feeders, living chiefly on leaves and young branches of forest trees and various kinds of herbage, which they gather and convey to their mouth by the very mobile proboscis, an organ which combines in a marvellous manner strength with dexterity of application, and is a necessary compensation for the shortness and inflexibility of the neck, as by it many of the