The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1903-06-04
THE ELEPHANTS TRUNK.
Science Has Discovered Some Facts
About the Pachyderm.

The recent discoveries of fossil re-
mains of ancestral proboscideans in the
tertiary deposits of the Fayum district
of Egypt, com bined with careful study
of the skeleton Of certain species of
mastodon known to science for many
years, have enabled DR.. c. W Andrews
proceedings of the Royal society to in
dictate very clearly the manner in which
the trunk of the modern elephant has
been gradually evolved.
The ancestral proboscideans We're
comparatively small and short-legged
animals, which had. of course. no diff
Guilty in putting their mouths to the
ground As the successors of these
primitive forms gradually increased in
bodily stature and more especially in
length of limb and size Of head it viii
be obvious that in order to be able to
obtain food or water from the level of
the ground they must either have in
creased the length of the neck or have
developed d special prolongation of the
muzzle.
But in the case Of large and heavy
headed animals, whose successors were
destined to carry the enormous tusks of
the extinct mastOdons and modern ele-
phants it viii be further manifest that
an increase in the length of the YER
tebrae of the neck and hence of the
neck Itself would, from mechanical con-
siderations. have been impossible. Ac-
cordingly the only practicable course was
the elongation of the nuzzie.
In the earlier forms the lower Jaw was
short and heavy, with the union between
the two branches (symphysis) very mas
siVe. On the other hand. in many of the
early mastodons the lower jaw had be-
come very long and terminated in long
trOughlike Synphysis. To accord with
this prolongation of the lower jaw it is
quite evident that the upper lip and nose
must likewise have been elongated ana
they probably formed a kind of pro-
boscis, of which the lip was most likely
more or less prehenSile.
For some reason or other no sooner had
the pr9iongation of the lower jaw attained
its maximum development that the leugth
Of its trOughllke sympAysis began 20 d.
minish till the structure eliminated in the
short snout found in later maatodons and
the modern elephants During these
changes the length of the proboscis must
have continued TO increase, while its Fex
ibiiity and tactile power We're likewise at
the same time augmented till the structure
attained its full development in the ele-
plants of today
In this connection it may be noticed that
the trunk Of the African elephant differs
very markedly in structure fIcm that OF its
Two types diVerged from the common an
cestral stock at a comparatively early
date. In addition to the WSll-knoWn diff
ference in the form Of the tip OF the trunk
of the African elephant is distinguished
from that OF the Indian species by its seq
pearance of being composed of a number
OF distinct pieces one Of which slides into
the other. like the joint Of a telescope. the
Indian elephant S trunk, on the other hand
IS uniformly elastic throughout ana cray
be compared TO a tapering indla-rubCer
hose pipe 1t is evidently a more highly
specialized structure than is the proboscis
OF the African species.-Lcndon Field.