8 AFRICAN ELEPHANT 



the fold, 4 feet 6 inches in depth, or practically the same as in the 

 type. 



The race most commonly seen in European menageries is the 

 Abyssinian, or Sudan, elephant {E. a. oxyotis), in which the huge ears 

 form an elongated triangle, with the upper border rounded and the 

 lappet very sharply pointed and angular. This elephant attains very 

 large dimensions, specimens of the ears (fig. 6) measuring as much 

 as 6 feet 5 inches in vertical diameter ; but the tusks do not attain the 

 enormous length of those of the Aberdare and, perhaps, some other 

 East Central African elephants. The elephants of the Blue Nile 

 belong to this race. 



A remarkable contrast to the preceding is presented by the North 

 Somali elephant {E. a. orleansi), which is a small race, with the upper 

 border of the small ears straight, and the lappet short and distinctly 

 defined. It is represented by a head in the collection of the Duke of 

 Orleans at Wood Norton. 



The last of the races named on the evidence of the ear is the 

 West Sudan elephant {E. a. rotJisdiildt), in which the ears are in some 

 respects intermediate between those of the Abyssinian and those of the 

 West African race, although approximating to the former in the shape 

 of the lappet. This race was represented by the well-known "Jumbo," 

 formerly living in the London Zoological Gardens, and by " Sahib," of 

 the Paris Gardens, both of which were imported at the same time. 

 The race attains very large dimensions, but the tusks do not seem 

 proportionately big. 



The Albert Nyanza elephant {E. a. albertoisis) is characterised by 

 the short broad skull, and the concavity, or emargination, of the hind 

 border of the ear. A head from Unyoro, Uganda, presented to the 

 British Museum by Mr. G. M. Norrie, apparently belongs to this race. 

 In addition, there is the above-mentioned dwarf elephant from the 

 Congo (£'. a. piunilio). 



The following account of the history and habits of elephants in 

 Southern Africa is abbreviated from one furnished by Mr. F. C. 

 Selous : — 



" With the exception of a limited number [of the West Cape race] 

 preserved in the Zitzikama forests near Mossel Bay and [of the East 

 Cape race] in the Addo bush near Port Elizabeth, together with a 

 couple of herds wandering some years ago in the neighbourhood of 

 the Maputa river, south of Delagoa Bay, elephants have been ex- 

 terminated to the southward of the Limpopo. In Khama's country, 

 if we except a few herds which may enter its northern fringe during 



