ELEPHANTS 735 



of no one who has been more painstaking in measuring ele- 

 phants in the flesh than Akeley. He is of the opinion that 

 his tallest bull, which was shot primarily for the large size of 

 its tusks, does not represent the largest bodily size attainable 

 by the African elephant, and that larger-sized though smaller- 

 tusked bulls have been seen by him in Uganda. It would be 

 of real service in this connection if a few of the largest-bodied 

 specimens out of as large a herd of bulls as could be found 

 together were collected and their skeletons deposited in 

 some museum where they would be available for comparison. 

 There are many other records by sportsmen of ii feet or 

 more for elephants shot in East Africa. Selous, the veteran 

 elephant hunter of the Zambesi, however, has never met with 

 any having a height of 1 1 feet, but states that the range in 

 height in that part of Africa is from lo feet to lo feet 6 inches. 

 Another elephant hunter, A. H. Neumann, who has had a 

 wide experience and was also a careful observer, gives ii 

 feet 3 inches as the height of the tallest specimen he has 

 killed, but states that the largest bulls he has shot in the 

 Lake Rudolf region were less than this, and ranged from 

 lo feet 6 inches to lo feet 9 inches in height. Our own 

 measurements of the height of East African bulls fall within 

 these limits. The tallest elephant in the National Museum 

 collection is a rogue bull shot by Colonel Roosevelt in 

 Uganda, having a height of 10 feet 9 inches at the withers. 

 The bulkiest or largest bull, however, was the first one 

 which he shot, on the southwest slope of Mount Kenia, 

 which had a height of 10 feet 6 inches, and tusks weighing 

 65 pounds apiece. Another large bull, which he shot later, 

 near Meru, had a height of 10 feet 4 inches. The actual 

 relative bulk of elephants may best be determined by a 

 comparison of the size of their skulls. Using this sort of 

 evidence, we are justified in concluding that the bull from 

 the southwest slope of Kenia equalled the famous "Jumbo" 

 in bulk, the skull being decidedly greater in greatest breadth 

 (some 2 inches), which is a better comparison of relative 

 size than the height at the withers. "Jumbo" is usually 

 stated to have stood 11 feet, but Ward only credits him 

 with 10 feet 7 inches, which is perhaps nearer his actual 

 height and agrees with the height of his skeleton, 10 feet 

 4 inches, as mounted at the American Museum of New 



