Game Animals of India, etc. 



It should be added that the name Elephas maximus 

 appears to have been originally bestowed on Ceylon 

 animals ; since, however, these were almost certainly 

 tuskers, they would seem, on Mr. Clark's hypothesis, to 

 be identical with the mainland race. 



Whether the " makhnas," " kumariahs," and 

 " dauntelas " of the mainland also indicate as many 

 distinct races inhabiting continental India, there is not 

 sufficient material at hand to determine. It is note- 

 worthy, however, that according to Falconer "the 

 experienced mahouts attached to the Government 

 Commissariat in Bengal will tell at a glance the district 

 where a recently caught elephant has been bred ; 

 whether the sal-forests of the North-West Provinces, 

 Assam, Sylhet, Chittagong, Tipperah, or Cuttack." 

 Should it be eventually possible to distinguish two or 

 more continental Indian races, the difficulty would arise 

 as to which was to be regarded as the typical Elephas 

 maximus of Linnaeus, which, as already indicated, may, 

 after all, be the Ceylon animal. 



With regard to the Sumatran elephant, geographical 

 considerations are probably of themselves sufficient to 

 indicate its right to stand as a local race (E. maximus 

 sumatranus) of the Asiatic species, distinguished by the 

 external characters recorded by Temminck and Schlegel. 

 Comparison would, however, probably indicate other 

 points of distinction between this and the Indian and 

 Cingalese races. If, as is suggested, the elephants 

 now found wild in Borneo have been introduced by 

 human agency, they are perhaps identical with the 

 Sumatran race. It may be added that if the natives 

 have been able to introduce these animals into Borneo, 

 there is no reason why they should not have done the 

 same in Ceylon. 



Whether the elephants of Cochin-China, Siam, the 

 Malay States, and Burma are or are not identical with 

 the Sumatran or the Indian race, there are at present no 

 means of determining. It is noteworthy, however, 



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