42 ELEPHANTS. 



Stands the flatness of the forehead, the comparatively small ears, the 

 D, E. presence of a single finger-like process at the front of the end 

 of the trunk (fig. 31 A), and the presence of four or five nails 

 on the hind feet. As might be expected from the wide range 

 of this species, different local forms can be distinguished, and 

 in some cases these have even been regarded as specifically 

 distinct, as, for instance, the elephant of Sumatra, which has 

 been called E. sumatranus. It seems, however, that all are 

 merely geographical races of the same animal. The Ceylon 

 form is said to be as a rule tuskless, and although tusk- 

 bearing forms do occur in the island, they may be either animals 

 imported from the mainland of India or the result of former 

 interbreeding with such. In India, also, some individuals, called 

 Muchnas, are tuskless or have very small tusks (see mounted 

 skin, stand E). The Sumatran type differs in being rather 

 more slightly built, and in possessing a rather longer trunk and 

 more expanded end to its tail. The elephants from Further 



Fig. 30. 



Skull of the African Elephant (Elephas africanus). About ^ nat. size. 



India and the Malay Peninsula are probably also a distinct 

 race which seems especially liable to produce albino forms, 

 the white elephants of Siam and Burma being well known. 



The origin of the other living species of elephant, Elephas 

 qfricanus (fig. 30), is not very clearly known, owing to the want 

 of fossil remains in the later Tertiary beds of Africa. It 

 appears probable that the narrow-toothed, straight-tusked form 

 of E. antiquus was either the ancestor, or nearly allied to the 



