session a tusk measuring
ten feet nine inches. This of course includes the portion within the
socket, whereas my measurement of the fossil is from the socket to
tip.

The lamination of the molar teeth also is very distinct in the two
species, as I have before stated--the African being in acute lozenges,
the Indian in wavy undulations.

Another point of divergence is, that the African elephant has only
three nails on the hind feet, whereas the Asiatic has four.

NO. 425. ELEPHAS INDICUS.
_The Indian or Asiatic Elephant_ (_Jerdon's No. 211_).

NATIVE NAMES.--_Hasti_ or _Gaja_, Sanscrit; _Gaj_, Bengali; _Hati_,
Hindi; _Ani_ in Southern India, i.e. in Tamil, Telegu, Canarese, and
Malabari; _Feel_, Persian; _Allia_, Singhalese; _Gadjah_, Malayan;
_Shanh_, Burmese.

HABITAT.--India, in most of the large forests at the foot of the
Himalayas from Dehra Doon down to the Bhotan Terai; in the Garo hills,
Assam; in some parts of Central and Southern India; in Ceylon and
in Burmah, from thence extending further to Siam, Sumatra and Borneo.

DESCRIPTION.--Head oblong, with concave forehead; small ears as
compared with the African animal; small eyes, lighter colour, and
four instead of three nails on the hind foot; the laminations of the
molar teeth in wavy undulations instead of sharp lozenges, as in the
African, the tusks also being much smaller in the female, instead
of almost equal in both sexes.

SIZE.--The maximum height appears to be about 11 feet, in fact the
only authentic measurement we have at present is 10 feet 7 inches.

"The huge elephant, wisest of brutes,"

has had a good deal of the romance about it taken away by modern
observers. The staid appearance of the animal, with the intellectual
aspect contributed by the enormous cranial development, combined
with its undoubted docility and aptitude for comprehending signs,
have led to exaggerated ideas of its intelligence, which probably
does not exceed that of the horse, and is far inferior to that of
the dog. But from time immemorial it has been surrounded by a halo
of romance and exaggeration. Mr. Sanderson says, however, that the
natives of India never speak of it as an intelligent animal, "and
it does not figure in their ancient literature for its wisdom, as
do the fox, the crow, and the monkey;" but he overlooks the fact that
the Hindu god of wisdom, _Gunesh_, is always depicted with the body
of a man, but the head of an elephant. However this is appar