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The Descent of Man

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Male quadrupeds, which are furnished with<br />

tusks, use them in various ways, as in the case<br />

<strong>of</strong> horns. <strong>The</strong> boar strikes laterally and upwards;<br />

the musk- deer downwards with serious<br />

effect. (28. Pallas, 'Spicilegia Zoologica,'<br />

fasc. xiii. 1779, p. 18.) <strong>The</strong> walrus, though<br />

having so short a neck and so unwieldy a body,<br />

"can strike either upwards, or downwards, or<br />

sideways, with equal dexterity." (29. Lamont,<br />

'Seasons with the Sea-Horses,' 1861, p. 141.) I<br />

was informed by the late Dr. Falconer, that the<br />

Indian elephant fights in a different manner<br />

according to the position and curvature <strong>of</strong> his<br />

tusks. When they are directed forwards and<br />

upwards he is able to fling a tiger to a great<br />

distance—it is said to even thirty feet; when<br />

they are short and turned downwards he endeavours<br />

suddenly to pin the tiger to the<br />

ground and, in consequence, is dangerous to<br />

the rider, who is liable to be jerked <strong>of</strong>f the<br />

howdah. (30. See also Corse ('Philosophical<br />

Transactions,' 1799, p. 212) on the manner in

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