_Postscriptum._—I am happy to say that a young elephant, carefully preserved in spirits, has recently been obtained in Ceylon, and forwarded to Prof. Owen, of the British Museum, by the joint exertions of M. DIARD and Major SKINNER. An opportunity has thus been afforded of which science will reap the advantage, of devoting a patient attention to the internal structure of this most interesting animal. [81] ARISTOTLE noticed a peculiarity in the intestinal configuration of the elephant such as gave it the appearance of having four stomachs. _De Anim. Hist._ l; ii. c. 17. [82] The passage as quoted by BUFFON from the _Mémoires_ is as follows:—“L’estomac avoit peu de diamètre; il en avoit moins que le colon, car son diamètre n’étoit que de quatorze pouces dans la partie la plus large; il avoit trois pieds et demi de longueur: l’orifice supérieur étoit à peu près aussi éloigné du pylore que du fond du grand cul-de-sac qui se terminoit en une pointe composée de tuniques beaucoup plus épaisses que celles du reste de l’estomac; il y avoit au fond du grand cul-de-sac plusieurs feuillets épais d’une ligne, larges d’un pouce et demi, et disposés irrégulièrement; le reste des parois intérieures étoit percé de plusieurs petits trous et par de plus grands qui correspondoient à des grains glanduleux.” (BUFFON, _Hist. Nat._ vol. xi. p. 109.) [83] “L’extrémité voisine du cardiaque se termine par une poche très-considérable et doublée à l’intérieure de quatorze valvules orbiculaires qui semblent en faire une espèce de division particulière.” (CAMPER, _Description anatomique d’un Eléphant mâle_, p. 37, tabl. IX.) [84] “The elephant has another peculiarity in the internal structure of the stomach. It is longer and narrower than that of most animals. The cuticular membrane of the œsophagus terminates at the orifice of the stomach. At the cardiac end, which is very narrow and pointed at the extremity, the lining is thick and glandular, and is thrown into transverse folds, of which five are broad and nine narrow. That nearest the orifice of the œsophagus is the broadest, and appears to act occasionally as a valve, so that the part beyond may be considered as an appendage similar to that of the peccary and the hog. The membrane of the cardiac portion is uniformly smooth; that of the pyloric is thicker and more vascular.” (_Lectures on Comparative Anatomy_, by Sir EVERARD HOME, Bart. 4to. Lond. vol. i. p. 155. The figure of the elephant’s stomach is given in his _Lectures_, vol. ii. plate xviii.) [85] A similar arrangement, with some modifications, has more recently been found in the llama of the Andes, which, like the camel, is used as a beast of burden in the Cordilleras of Chili and Peru; but both these and the camel are _ruminants_, whilst the elephant belongs to the Pachydermata. [86] _Proceed. Roy. Irish. Acad._ vol. iv. p. 133. [87] _Ayeen Akbery_, transl. by GLADWIN, vol. i. pt. i. p. 147.