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Anterior extremities of the trunks of male (A) and female elephants (B).

Action of anterior extremity of proboscis in gathering long herbage.

Mode of holding herbage when gathered.

Mode of holding a root till enough is collected for a mouthful,

If a longitudinal vertical section be made and the surface be polished, the crusta petrosa will be distinguished by a greater yellowness and opacity, as well as by a uniformity of appearance, there being no apparent laminæ nor fibres. The grinding teeth of the elephant,' writes Lawrence in his 'Additions' to Blumenbach, 'contain the most complete intermixture of these three substances, and have a greater proportion of crusta petrosa than those of any other animal. The pulp forms a number of broad flat processes lying parallel to each other, and placed transversely between the inner and outer laminæ of the alveoli. The bone of the tooth is formed on these in separate shells, commencing at their loose extremities and extending towards the basis, where they are connected together. The capsule sends an equal number of membranous productions, which first cover the bony shells with enamel and then invest them with crusta petrosa, which latter substance unites and consolidates the different portions. The bony shells vary in number from four to twenty-three, according to the size of the tooth and the age of the animal; they have been described under the name of denticuli, and have been represented as separate teeth in the first instance. It must, however, be remembered that they are formed on processes of one single pulp. When the crusta petrosa is completely deposited, the different denticuli are consolidated together. The bony shells are united at the base to the neighbouring ones; the investments of enamel are joined in like manner; and the intervals are filled with the third substance, which really deserves the name bestowed on it by Cuvier of cement. The pulp is then elongated for the purpose of forming the roots or fangs of the tooth. From the peculiar mode of dentition of this animal, the front portion of the tooth has cut the gum and is employed in mastication before the back part is completely formed; even before some of the posterior denticuli have been consolidated. The back of the tooth does not appear in the mouth until the anterior part has been worn down even to the fang. A horizontal section of the elephant's tooth presents a series of narrow bands of bone of the tooth, surrounded by corresponding portions of enamel. Between these are portions of crusta petrosa; and the whole circumference of the section is composed of a thick layer of the same substance. A vertical section in the longitudinal direction exhibits the processes of bone upon the different denticuli, running up from the fangs; a vertical layer of enamel is placed before and another behind each of these. If the tooth is not yet worn by mastication, the two layers of enamel are continuous at the part where the bone terminates in a point; and the front layer of one denticulus is continuous with the back layer of the succeeding one, at the root of the tooth. Crusta petrosa intervenes between the ascending and descending portions of the enamel. As the surface of the tooth is worn down in mas tication, the processes of enamel, resisting by their superior hardness, form prominent ridges on the grinding surface, molars which must adapt it excellently for bruising and commi nuting any hard substance. The grinding bases, when worn sufficiently to expose the enamel, in the Asiatic species, represent flattened ovals placed across the tooth. In the African they form a series of lozenges, which touch each other in the middle of the tooth.' In the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons are a series of preparations (Nos. 350 to 354, both inclusive) illustrative of the structure and physiology of the molar teeth of elephants, preceded by an interesting extract from the Hunterian MS. catalogue. No. 375 B. is a portion of the cementum of an elephant's grinder, which has been steeped in an acid, dried, and preserved in oil of turpentine, for the purpose of showing the proportion of animal matter which it contains.

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Curled action, when a powerful grasp and much force is required. Dental Formula.-African elephant, incisors

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10. Asiatic elephant, incisors O' Dentition and osseous Structure.-The succession of molar teeth in the elephants takes place in a direction from behind forwards; and the tooth last developed pushing against that which preceded it, and in time replacing it, gives as a result that there are never more than two molar teeth on each side of each jaw, and that sometimes there is only one. The last case happens immediately after the shedding of the anterior tooth, which has been pushed out by its successor, and which, in its turn, is to be replaced in like manner. This succession happens many times during the life of the animal, and Mr. Corse noticed it eight times in an Asiatic elephant. Now, as these teeth show their anterior extremity first, long before the other extremity appears, and as they begin to be worn down anteriorly, it follows that the anterior tooth, when it is shed, is infinitely smaller in size than it once was, and that its form is entirely changed.

In the molar teeth of most graminivorous quadrupeds there is, besides the bony substance and enamel, a third component part, differing in appearance from both the others, but resembling the bone more than the enamel. Blake and others have distinguished this substance by the name of crusta petrosa; Cuvier calls it cement. The distinction of these three substances is, perhaps, better seen in the molar tooth of an elephant than in any other animal.

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Nos. 262 to 264, both inclusive, show the interarticular ligamentous substance from the joint of the lower jaw of the elephant, and the adaptation of the structure for applying two convex surfaces to each other.

More than one molar tooth and part of another are never to be seen through the gum in the elephant. When the anterior tooth is gradually worn away by mastication, the absorption of its fangs and alveolus takes place, while the posterior tooth advances to occupy its position; then comes third to take the place of the second tooth, which undergoes the same process, and so on as we have stated for at least eight times. Each succeeding tooth is larger than its predecessor. Thus the first or milk grinder, which cuts the gum soon after birth, has but four transverse plates (denticuli); the second is composed of eight or nine, and

appears completely when the animal is two years old; the third consists of twelve or thirteen, and comes at the age of six years; and in the fourth up to the eighth grinder both inclusive, the number of plates varies from fifteen to twenty-three. It would seem that every new tooth takes at least a year more for its formation than its predecessor. As the tooth advances gradually, a comparatively small portion only is through the gum at once. composed of twelve or fourteen plates, shows only two or A molar tooth, three of these through the gum, the others being imbedded in the jaw, and in fact the tooth is complete anteriorly, where it is required for mastication, while, posteriorly it is very incomplete. As the lamina advance, they are successively perfected. An elephant's molar tooth is therefore never to be seen in a perfect state; for if it is not worn at all anteriorly, the posterior part is not formed, and the fangs are wanting; nor is the structure of the back part of the tooth perfected until the anterior portion is gone.

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the newly-deposited layers of ivory, while no opening will exist between it and the surface to account for its entrance. If it have only sufficient force to enter, it will probably sink by its own weight between the pulp and the tooth, until it rests at the bottom of the cavity. It there becomes surrounded by new layers of ivory; and as the tusk is gradually worn away and supplied by new depositions, it will Lastly, a foreign body may enter the tusk from above, as soon be found in the centre of the solid part of the tooth. the plate of bone which forms its socket is thin: if this descends to the lower part of the cavity, it may become imbedded by the subsequent formations of ivory. This must have happened in a case where a spear-head was found in an elephant's tooth. The long axis of the foreign body corresponded to that of the cavity. No opening for its admission could be discovered, and it is very clear that no human strength could drive such a body through the side of a tusk.' 'Phil. Trans.' 1801, part 1.

of by examining the table published by Cuvier in his The great size to which these tusks grow may be judged Ossemens Fossiles,' tome i., p. 57. It is generally considered that the tusks of the African elephant are the largest ; but with regard to the table, Cuvier observes that the African tusks could not be distinguished from those of the Indies, and that there is not the certainty that could be wished in the measures employed. According to Mr. Corse, the tusks of the Indian elephant seldom exceed 72 lbs. in weight, and do not weigh beyond 50 lbs. in the province of Tiperah, which produces thousands of elephants. There bably from Pegu; for it is from Pegu and Cochin China are however, in London, tusks which weigh 150 lbs., prothat the largest Indian elephants and tusks are brought. The largest recorded in Cuvier's table was a tusk sold at Amsterdam, according to Klokner, which weighed 350 lbs.: this is stated on the authority of Camper; and one possessed by a merchant of Venice, which was 14 feet in length, and resting on the authority of Hartenfels, in his Elephantographia. The largest in the Paris Museum is large end. These tusks have different degrees of curvature. nearly 7 feet long, and about 54 inches in diameter at the

Elephants have no canine teeth; but in the upper jaw there are two incisors better known by the name of tusks. These enormous weapons are round, arched, and terminating in a point, and their capsule is always free, so that the tusk continues to grow as long as the animal lives. The structure of the ivory of which it is composed differs from other tusks; and a transverse section presents striæ forming the arc of a circle from the centre to the circumference, and, in crossing each other, curvilinear lozenges which occupy the whole surface. The tusk is hollow within for a great part of its length, and the cavity contains a vascular pulp, which supplies successive layers internally as the tusk is worn down externally. Blumenbach, in his 'Comparative Anatomy,' observes, that not to mention other peculiarities of ivory, which have induced some modern naturalists to consider it as a species of horn, the difference between its structure and that of the bone of teeth is evinced in the remarkable pathological phenomenon resulting from balls, with which the animal has been shot when young, being found, on sawing through the tooth, imbedded in its substance in a peculiar manner. both to refute Duhamel's opinion of the formation of bones Haller employed this fact, by the periosteum, like that of wood by the bark of a tree, as well as to prove the constant renovation of the hard the first or, milk tusks of an elephant never grow to any Mr. Corse, speaking of the Asiatic elephant, states that parts of the animal machine. It is still more important in size, but are shed between the first and second year. These, explanation of that nutritio ultra vasa,' which is particu- as well as the first grinders, are named by the natives larly known through the Petersburgh prize dissertation. dood-kau-daunt, which literally signifies milk teeth. The Blumenbach further states that the fact above mentioned tusks which are shed have a considerable part of the root may be seen in Buffon (4to. ed., tom. xi., p. 161); in Ga-or fang absorbed before this happens. The time at which landat over de Olyphants Tanden; in the Verhandelingen the tusk cuts the gum seems to vary. Mr. Corse knew a der Genootsch, te Vlissingen, p. 352, tom. ix.; and in Bonn. young one which had his tusks when about five months old, descr. thesauri Hoviani, p. 146. In all these cases, accord- while those of another did not cut the gum till he was ing to Blumenbach, the balls were of iron; and he adds seven months old. Those tusks, which are deciduous, obthat he possesses a similar specimen. In the cases we have serves the same author, are perfect and without any hollow seen the balls were also of iron. bach, 'there is a still more curious example in my collec- at this period the socket of the permanent tusk begins to But,' continues Blumen- at the root, in a fœtus which is come to its full time, and tion, of a leaden bullet contained in the tusk of an East be formed on the inner side of the deciduous tusk: he Indian elephant, which must have been equal in size to a gives the following examples of the progress of this part of man's thigh, without having been flattened. It lies close the dentition. A young elephant shed one of his milk to the cavity of the tooth; its entrance from without is tusks on the 6th of November, 1790, when near thirteen closed, as it were, by means of a cicatrix; and the ball itself months old, and the other on the 27th of December, when is surrounded apparently by a peculiar covering. The bony about fourteen months old: they were merely two blackmatter has been poured out on the side of the cavity in a coloured stumps, when shed; but, two months afterwards, stalactitic form. Upon this Lawrence well remarks that the permanent tusks cut the gum, and on the 19th of April, the facts here recounted have been sometimes brought for- 1791, they were an inch long, but black and ragged at the ward in order to prove the vascularity of the teeth; a doc- ends. When they became longer and projected beyond the trine which is refuted by every circumstance in the forma- lip, they soon were worn smooth by the motion and friction tion, structure, and diseases of these organs. bullet has entered the substance of the body, the surround- milk tusks till he was sixteen months old. The permanent When a of the trunk. Another young elephant did not shed his ing lacerated and contused parts do not grow to the metal tusks of the female are very small in comparison with those and become firmly attached to its surface, but they inflame of the male, and do not take their rise so deep in the jaw; and suppurate in order to get rid of the offending matter. but they use them as weapons of offence in the same If the ivory be vascular, asks Mr. Lawrence, why do not manner as the male named Moaknah, that is by putting the same processes take place in it? We can explain very their head above another elephant, and pressing their tusks satisfactorily,' writes Mr. Lawrence in continuation, how down into the animal. a bullet may enter the tusk of an elephant, and become imbedded in the ivory without any opening for its admission being perceptible. These tusks are constantly growing during the animal's life by a deposition of successive lamine within the cavity, while the outer surface and the point are gradually worn away; and the cavity is filled for this purpose with a vascular pulp, similar to that on which teeth are originally formed. If a ball penetrate the side of a tusk, cross its cavity, and lodge in the slightest way on the opposite side, it will become covered towards the cavity by

and the molar teeth resemble those to which they are In the lower jaw there are neither incisors nor canines, opposed.

African species have large tusks, and that the difference Cuvier comes to the conclusion that the females of the between the sexes in this respect is much less than in the Indian elephants; but Burchell attributes the want of success of the elephant hunters whom he met with to their having only fallen in with females whose tusks were small.

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Here we see that the almost pyramidical form of the skull in the Indian species is strongly contrasted with the more rounded form and contour of that of the African species. The front of the head is concave in the Indian species, while in the African it is rather convex; there are esides other differences.

Internally we find a beautiful provision for increasing the surface necessary for the attachment of muscles combined with strength and lightness.

The other parts of the skull most worthy of note are the nasal bones, of which the elephant possesses only a kind of imitation: the lachrymal bones are entirely wanting. The cervical vertebræ form a short and stiff series, allowing hardly more than a limited motion of the head from side to side, a more extended action being rendered unnecessary by the flexibility of the trunk, and a firm support for the head being the principal object to be attained. The spinous processes of the anterior dorsal vertebræ are exceedingly long for the attachment of the great suspensory ligament of the neck (ligamentum nucha or pax-wax). Blumenbach puts the number of ribs, and consequently of dorsal vertebræo, at 19 pairs, observing that this, at least, is

the case in the skeleton of the Asiatic elephant at Cassel Blair, he remarks, found the same number in the individuals of which he has given an account; and a manuscript Italian description of the elephant which died at Florence in 1657 confirms this statement. Allen Moulins, on the contrary (Anatomical Account of the Elephant burned in Dublin, London, 1682, 4to.), and Daubenton, represent the number of pairs as 20. The elephant in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons (Chunee, formerly of Exeter Change) has 19 pairs of ribs; and that in the British Museum has the same number, 14 true and 5 false; but Mr. Gray informs us that, in a second speci men of a young one, the bones of which have not been separated, there are 20 pairs, 15 true and 5 false. There are only three lumbar vertebræ. The margin of the scapula, which is turned towards the spine, and is shortest in most of the proper quadrupeds, is the longest in the elephant, as it is in the Cheiroptera, most of the Quadrumana, and especially in man. There is no ligamentum teres, and consequently no impression on the head of the femur or thigh bone.

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Structure of internal soft parts.-The following internal soft parts are more particularly worthy of remark in the elephant. Brain, &c.-A portion of the dura mater from an Asiatic elephant may be seen in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, in London (Gallery No. 1346), where the termination of the falx and the commencement of the tentorium or process which separates the cerebrum from the cerebellum are shown. The two fibrous layers of the dura mater are separated by a softer cellular substance, in which the vessels ramify; and it may be observed that the thickness of the dura mater is in proportion to the size of the skull, and of the entire animal, but not to the size of the brain, which does not much exceed that of the human brain, as will be seen in the preparation of the brain of a young Asiatic elephant (No. 1331). For though the absolute size of the organ exceeds that of man, the proportion which the cerebrum bears to the rest of the brain, and especially that part of the hemisphere which forms the roof and sides of the lateral ventricle, is much less. The hemispheres are broad and short, with a considerable development of the natiform protuberance. The convolutions are comparatively small and numerous. A lateral section has been removed from the left hemisphere, which shows that the anfractuosities are also deep, extending in some cases more than two-thirds of an inch into the substance of the brain. The hippocampus is comparatively

smaller than in the ass, and the corpus striatum larger The ventricle is seen to be continued into the olfactory bulb. The cerebellum is of considerable width, and its surface, as shown by the lateral section, is increased by numerous and complex anfractuosities. The tuber annulare corresponds in size to the development of the lateral lobes of the cerebellum. The corpora olivaria are remarkably prominent. The origins of all the cerebral nerves are shown, among which the olfactory nerves of the fifth pair, which supplies the proboscis, are remarkable for their prodigious size; whilst the optic nerves, and those which supply the muscles of the eye, are remarkable for their small size. The pia mater is left on with the vessels at the base of the brain. A bristle is placed in the infundibulum. (Cat. Gallery, vol. iii.) The brain in man is from

to of the body, that of the elephant. The stomach is simple, the intestines are very voluminous, and the cæcum enormous. In the sanguiferous system the heart is worthy of note, and a section of the right auricle and ventricle of that of an Asiatic elephant may be seen in the museum last mentioned (Gallery, No. 924). In this animal, which, in some other respects, singularly resembles the Rodentia, three vena cava terminate in the right auricle. Besides the Eustachian valve, which projects between the orifices of the inferior and left superior cave, there is also, as in the Porcupine, a rudiment of a superior valve, ex

tending from the posterior side of the orifice of the right superior cava. The tricuspid valve, and its chorda tendinee and columnæ carneæ, are also well displayed. (Cat. Gallery, vol. ii.)

Reproduction, &c.-Romantic stories were formerly told of the extreme modesty of elephants; but Mr. Corse has disproved these and others which asserted that they would only reproduce the species in a state of nature, by showing that captivity and numerous witnesses formed no obstacle: but it must be remembered that the experiments recorded by him were made in India. Copulatio more equino. The period of gestation is twenty months and some days. The female mentioned by Mr. Corse produced a fine male, which was thirty-five inches and a half high just twenty months and eighteen days after she was first covered. The breasts of the female are placed under the chest, and the young one sucks, not with the trunk, but with the mouth. The young of the elephant, at least all those I have seen,' writes Mr. Corse, begin to nibble and suck the breast soon after birth; pressing it with the trunk, which, by natural instinct, they know will make the milk flow more readily into the mouth while sucking. Elephants never lie down to give their young ones suck; and it often happens, when the dam is tall, that she is obliged for some time to bend her body towards her young to enable him to reach the nipple with his mouth; consequently, if ever the trunk was used to lay hold of the nipple, it would be at this period, when he is making laborious efforts to reach it with his mouth, but which he could always easily do with his trunk if it answered the purpose. In sucking, the young elephant always grasps the nipple (which projects horizontally from the breast) with the side of his mouth. I have very often observed this; and so sensible are the attendants of it, that, with them, it is a common practice to raise a small mound of earth, about six or eight inches high, for the young one to stand on, and thus save the mother the trouble of bending her body every time she gives suck, which she cannot readily do when tied to her picket.' The maternal affection does not seem to be very strong in the female elephant, at least in captivity; for the same author states that tame elephants are never suffered to remain loose, as instances occur of the mother leaving her young and escaping into the woods; and he says that if a wild elephant happens to be separated from her young, for only two days, though giving suck, she never afterwards recognises or acknowledges it. This separation,' adds Mr. Corse, 'sometimes happened unavoidably, when they were enticed separately into the outlet of the Keddah. I have been much mortified at such unnatural conduct in the mother, particularly when it was evident the young elephant knew its dam, and, by its plaintive cries and submissive approaches, solicited her assistance.'

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LIVING SPECIES.

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well set on and carried rather high; the arch or curve of his back rising gradually from the shoulder to the middle, and thence descending to the insertion of the tail, and all his joints firm and strong.

The following are the castes (Zat) or varieties of the Asiatic elephant noticed by Mr. Corse. Both males and females are divided into two castes, by the natives of Bengal, viz., the Koomareah (of a princely race) and the Merghee (hunting elephant, from mrigah a deer, or hunting, or from its slender make), and this without any regard to the ap pearance, shape, or size of the tusks in the male, as these serve merely to characterize some varieties in the species. The Koomareah is deep-bodied, strong, and compact, with a large trunk and short but thick legs. The Merghee is generally taller but is not so compact nor so strong: he travels faster, has a lighter body, and his trunk is both short and slender in proportion to his height. As a large trunk is considered a great beauty in an elephant, the Koomareah is preferred, but not only for this, but for its superior strength, and greater capability of sustaining fatigue. The mixed breed is held in greater or less estimation in proportion as it partakes of the qualities of the Koomareah or Merghee. A breed from a pure Koomereah and Merghee is termed Sunkareah (from sunkarah, a mixture), or Merghabauliah (for the most part Merghee); but a farther mixture or crossing of the breed renders it extremely difficult for the hunters to ascertain the variety. Besides the Koomareah, Merghee, and Sunkareah breeds, several varieties are generally to be found in the same herd; but the nearer an elephant approaches to the true Koomareah the more he is preferred, especially by the natives, and the higher will be his price; though Europeans are not so particular, and will sometimes prefer a female Merghee for hunting and riding when she has good paces and is mild and tractable.

The variety of male termed Dauntelah (toothy, having large fine teeth,) produces the largest tusks and the finest ivory: his head is strongly contrasted with that of the Mooknah (probably from mookh, the mouth or face), which can hardly be distinguished in this respect from a female elephant, and the tusks of some of the females are so small as not to appear beyond the lip, while in others they are almost as large as in the variety of male called Mooknah. The Dauntelah is generally more daring and less manageable than the Mooknah; and for this reason, until the temper and disposition are ascertained, the Europeans prefer the Mooknah; but the natives who are fond of show generally take their chance, and prefer the Dauntelah: and though there is a material difference in their appearance as well as in the value of their tusks, yet, if they are of the same caste, size, and disposition, and perfect, there is scarcely any difference in their price.

There are many varieties between the Mooknah and Dauntelah, and these are varied according to the variation of the form of the tusks from the projecting horizontal, but rather elevated, curve of the Pullung-Daunt* of the true Dauntelah, to the nearly straight tusks of the Mooknah, which point directly downwards.

Elephas Indicus. The Asiatic elephant differs from the African species, not only in its greater size and in the characters of the teeth and skull, but also in the comparative smallness of the ears, the paler brown colour of the Thus the Goneish or Ganesa, which is a Dauntelah that skin, and in having four nails on the hind feet instead of has never had but one tusk and this of the pullung sort, three. The sagacity of this species is also supposed to be and which is so called from Ganesa, the Hindu god of greater than that of the African elephants; but though wisdom, who is represented with a head like an elephant's many wonderful stories are told, and some of them are as with only one tooth, was sold in Mr. Corse's time to the true as they are wonderful, of the grateful remembrance Hindu princes for a very high price, to be kept in state and which it long retains of benefits conferred, or of the tenacity worshipped as a divinity. Another variety of the Dauntewith which it treasures up a wrong,' and though the in-lah has the large tusks pointing downwards and projecting stances of its docility, both antient and modern are very only a little beyond the trunk: he is then said to have extraordinary, we agree, upon the whole, with Baron Cuvier, Soor or Choordaunt (Hog's teeth). A third is the Puttelwho observes, that after having studied these animals a long dauntee, whose tusks are straight like those of the Mooknah, time, he never found their intelligence surpass that of only much longer and thicker. The Ankoos Dauntee is a dog nor of many other carnivorous animals. It is impos- fourth, and has one tusk growing nearly horizontal, like the ing to see such a mountain of vitality obedient to the voice Pullung-Daunt, and the other like the Puttul-Daunt, and of its keeper and performing feats at his dictation; and there are other less distinct varieties. the massive gravity of its physiognomy assists the impression.

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The following is Mr. Corse's description of a perfect Asiatic Elephant. An elephant is said to be perfect when his cars are large and rounded, not ragged or indented at the margin; his eyes of a dark hazle colour free from specks; the roof of his mouth and his tongue without dark or black spots of any considerable size; his trunk large, and his tail long, with a tuft of hair reaching nearly to the ground. There must be five nails on each of his fore-feet, and four on each of the hind ones, making eighteen in all; his head

The term Goondah seems to be used to designate those stronger than the males generally taken with the herd, the wandering male elephants which are much larger and Goondah departing from it or returning to it according to his desire. The Goondahs are supposed to be rarely taken with the herd: when they are so taken, their violence and ferocity renders them most destructive. Mr. Corse relates an instance of the ungovernable passions and terrible havock

jecting so regularly, and being a little curved and elevated at the extremities, the natives suppose a man might lie on them at his ease, as on a bed. (Corse.)

Pullung signifies a bed or cot, and daunt teeth; and, from the tusks pro

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