brain is not correspondent to that of the skull;
for in the latter are several great cavities, occu-
pied only by air-cells of thin bone; and thus en-
larged surface is afforded for the attachment of
the muscles needful to move the proboscis and
lower jaw, without increasing the weight of the
head, already sufficiently burdened with the mas-
sive tusks, and fleshy trunk. ‘There are no inci-
sors in the lower jaw. The mamme are two, si-
tuated on the breast: the young, one of which
only is born at a time, suck with the lips, and not
with the extremity of the proboscis, as has been
erroneously supposed.
But a single living genus belongs to this fa- mily; but there is a fossil animal, the Mastodon, which resembled the Elephants in most respects, with some important peculiarities in the struc- ture of the molar teeth. One species,—the re- mains of which are found in great abundance, and in a wonderful state of preservation, scat- tered over the prairies of North America, — equalled the Elephant in size, and surpassed it in the massiveness of its proportions.
Genus Exepuas. (LINN.)
The proboscis of this sagacious animal demands our first notice. This wonderful organ, which confers upon the Elephant much of the versatile power of the human hand, is composed of an immense number of small muscles variously interlaced, so as to produce the powers of extension, contraction, and motion, in all directions. Cuvier computes the number of muscles having distinct action in this organ, as not far short of
