76 



OEIGINAL AETICLES. 



In their external form also the two Asiatic Elephants appear to 

 present some differences. Heer Westerman, Director of the Gardens 

 of the Zoological Society of Amsterdam, which has for several years 

 possessed two female elephants of middling age, one from Calcutta and 

 the other from Sumatra, informs me, on this subject, that the Suma- 

 ti-an example is more slender and more finely built than the Benga- 

 lese, that it has a longer and thinner snout, and that the rump at the 

 end is more broadened and covered with longer and stronger hairs, 

 in which respect it reminds one rather of the African than the Indian 

 Elephant, and lastly that the Sumatran animal is more remarkable 

 for its intellectual development than the Indian. 



The last mentioned observation agrees in a remarkable way with 

 w^hat Heer Diard has lately wi-itten concerning the Elephant of 

 Ceylon. He says, on this matter, " I'Elephant de Ceylon se dis- 

 " tingue de celui des Indes par une aptitude d'intelligence instinc- 

 " tive, celle de facile educabihte : aussi ces elephaus de Ceylon, de 

 " tout temps recherches par les Princes de I'lnde se trouvent I'etre 

 " encore aujourdhui plus qu' aucun autre par les Anglais pour les 

 " differens services auxquels on les employe. J'ai eu I'occasiou 

 " d' observer plusieursgrandes troupes de ces animaux et une parti- 

 " culierement, qui avait fiui par se laisser prendre dans ime gi-ande 

 " enceinte etablie par les ordres du Grouvernement, qui a cette 

 " epoque oii la guerre de I'lnde etait encore loin d'etre terminee 

 " faisait tout ce qu'il est possible pour recruter un certain nombre de 

 " ces animaux afin de les dirigervers le Bengale." 



When we collect Avhat is known respecting the distribution of 

 both species of Asiatic Elephants, it seems that this animal is met 

 with eastward of the Indus throughout the whole of Hindostan, 

 Bengal, and the wade districts of Em-ther India to Siam and Cochin- 

 Chiua, and also on the islands of Ceylon and Sumatra ; that one of 

 the species, U. sumafranus, has only yet been met with on the islands 

 of Ceylon and Sumatra,* whilst the so-called Indian Elephant has 

 been brought to Europe exclusively from Continental India. 



So far as I can discover, tlie greater number of Elephants brought 

 to Europe from Continental India, have been obtained from Bengal. 

 It remains therefore a question, whether all the Elephants of 

 Continental India belong really to one species, or whether, in tliese 

 widely extended regions, there may not be different species of Ele- 

 phants, and the Elephant of Trans-gangetic India may not perhaps 

 belong to U. sumatramis. A similar question may be asked with 

 respect to the Elephant of Southern India, compared with the 

 E. smnatranus of Ceylon, since these districts approach one ano- 

 ther very nearly. We have, it is true, no more reasons for answer- 



• The whole area of tlie distribution of the Asiatic Elephants is, on the globe, 

 eml)race(l in a district of the form of an elongated quadrangle of 40 degrees in length 

 and 25 in breadth, of which about half is taken up by sea. It lies between 65» and 

 1U5" E. L. and irom IS. to fcj. extends from about 35"" and 25" N. to 5°S. 



