ELEPHANT-Beetle. See SCARABÆUS.
Knights of the ELEPHANT, an order of knighthood in
Denmark, conferred upon none but persons of the first
quality and merit. It is also called the order of St Mary.
Its institution is said to have been owing to a gentle-
man among the Danish croises having killed an ele-
phant, in an expedition against the Saracens, in 1184;
in memory of which, king Canutus instituted this or-
der, the badge of which is a towered elephant, with
an image of the holy virgin encircled with rays, and
hung on a watered sky-coloured ribbon, like the George
in England.