738 AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 



Rainey near Mount Marsabit, a hundred miles north of 

 Meru, measured quite the same as this cow in every dimen- 

 sion. The skull of this specimen is also quite identical in 

 shape and size. They were both aged animals, having all 

 the plates of their last molars in use. The dimensions of 

 this skull are: greatest length from the condyles to the tip 

 of the premaxillary bones, 31^^ inches; greatest width across 

 zygomatic arches, 26^ inches; greatest width across back 

 of occipital expansion, 24^ inches. The tusks of this cow 

 are very large and exceed in length any others known to us. 

 The right is 5 feet 7 inches in length, the left 5 feet 10 inches, 

 and both show a diameter of 10 inches. The heavier one 

 weighs 28 pounds. The heaviest cow tusk of which we have 

 a record is one recorded by Selous, from the Zambesi region, 

 weighing 39 pounds. Cow tusks average 15 pounds in 

 weight and vary in size much less than those of the bull, 

 the normal limits ranging from 10 to 20 pounds per tusk. 

 No size or proportional differences of a racial character be- 

 tween this cow from the Marsabit desert country and the 

 one from the Kenia forests have been detected, notwith- 

 standing the great physical differences of the habitats of the 

 two specimens. The measurements of large bulls, given by 

 Neumann, of the Lake Rudolf country, which is a part of 

 the Marsabit desert region, are quite the same as those of 

 large bulls from the Kenia forest. At the present time, 

 however, there is no migration between this region and 

 Mount Kenia, and we doubt very much whether in the past 

 the highland forest elephants and the desert ones ever left 

 their respective environments for long periods. The Afri- 

 can elephant seems capable of adapting himself to great 

 differences in climate or environment without undergoing 

 any noticeable change in external appearance, and on this 

 account shows no characters of a geographical or racial sort 

 except in a very broad or general way. 



The elephant, until comparatively recently, ranged over 

 every part of Britjsh East Africa and Uganda, from the sea- 

 coast to the alpine meadows of the high mountains, as high 

 as an altitude of 12,000 feet. They migrated freely every- 

 where over plains, through forest, in scattered bush coun- 

 try, and even through low, arid deserts, where there is only 

 a scanty supply of brackish water, confined to widely iso- 



