156 Zoolog^ical Collections. 



Captain Sabine in bis supplement to the appendix of Captain Parry's voy- 

 age in 1819-20. Under these circumstances Mr Children gladly embraced 

 the opportunity afforded him by the kindness of Lieutenant Elliot Morris, 

 R. N. of giving an accurate figure of an unquestionable genuine male Es- 

 quimaux dog, brought from the Polar Seas by Mr Richards, in Captain 

 Parry's first voyage, and by him presented to his friend, Mr Morris, in 

 whose possession the dog still remains. Mr Children, in his notice, has 

 given the dimensions, colouring, &c. of the dog in question ; but as the Es- 

 quimaux dogs are unquestionably domesticated, and must therefore be ex- 

 posed to the powerful influence of this cause, we do not think it necessary 

 to republish details which could be interesting only with reference to a 

 wild or undomesticated species of animal.— Zoo /og-ecaZ Journal, No. ix. 

 January 1827. 



8. — Elephant, 



The dismemberment of the genus Elephas, for the purpose of establish- 

 ing a new one under the name of Loxodonta, has been attempted by IMessrs 

 Geoffroy St Hilaire, and F. Cuvier in the fifty-second and fifty-third 

 Livraisons of the L'Histoire Naturelle des Mammiferes. The following 

 remarks by the editors of the Zoological Journal will put our readers in 

 possession of the principal facts on this subject. 



" M. G. Cuvier first pointed out to the satisfaction of modern zoologists 

 the specific distinction existing between them, and employed to designate 

 the former the name of E. capensis, while to the latter was assigned that 

 of E. Indicus. M. F. Cuvier has now advanced still farther, and has re- 

 garded them as the types of two genera, differing from each other as much 

 as Canis from Hyaena, or Lagomys from Lepus. For the elephant of Asia 

 he retains the original generic name Elephas. The surfaces of its molar 

 teeth present fasciae of enamel irregularly festooned ; while in those of the 

 African elephant, the type of the new genus Loxodonta, the enamel is dis- 

 posed in lozenges. In addition to this striking distinction derived from 

 the dentary system, M. F. Cuvier also enumerates the other characters 

 which have hitherto been regarded as specific, — the smaller, more elon- 

 gated, and less irregular head of the African aniinal, when compared with 

 the Asiatic ; the rounded forehead of the former strongly contrasted with 

 the deep depression in the middle of that of the latter ; the ear of the for- 

 mer also twice the extent, while the tail is only half the length, &c. 



''Since 1681 no African elephant has been seen in Europe, until the 

 young female figured by M. Cuvier, which is now alive in Paris, having 

 been sent as a present by the Pacha of Egypt. Its habits, so far as those 

 of a very young animal can be relied on, exhibit none of the ferocity 

 usually ascribed to it, and are indeed fully as mild, intelligent, and trac- 

 table as those of the elephant of Asia." 



This novelty in the division of the genus Elephas will probably not be 

 accepted by naturalists. The two species resemble each other far too closely 

 to permit of their dislocation into separate genera. We can affirm from 

 personal observation that the habits of the wild African elephant resem- 

 ble entirely those which have been assigned to the Asiatic, and that the for- 

 mer generally are iully taller and larger than the latter. 



