1880.] MR. SCLATER ON THE BXRTH OF AN ELEPHANT. 223 



" I send you with pleasure some measurements of the baby Ele- 

 phant. The height and weight were taken an hour after birth, the 

 others three days later. I have doubts of the accuracy of the weight, 

 as it does not seem to me possible that it can weigh so much. There 

 are several other measurements I wauted ; but the young one was 

 very uneasy, and the mother did not like the operation ; °o it was 

 by no means an easy task to get any. 



Weight 2131b 



Height at shoulder *.' 341 inches 



Length of forearm and manus 16 



„ hind limb 30 



„ lower leg and pes Igi 



Girth at thorax 45 



„ abdomen 49 



,, fore foot 17 



Length of trunk 12 



Girth at base of trunk 9 



Length of tail 20 



Width between eyes g 1 



Distance between articulations of jaw, across . . 26 



if 

 » 



»j 



" The young one was up and walking about very shortly after birth, 

 has teeth in both jaws, and sucks with the mouth. The mamma of 

 the mother when distended projects somewhat laterally ; so that the 

 trunk of the young one is thrown up, and rests, while sucking, in the 

 angle between the shoulder and thorax. 



"Father and mother are each about twenty-three or twenty-four 

 years old, and about the same size, some eight feet high, I should 

 say. 



" The proportions of the young one, to the eye, are nearly those of 

 the adult ; it is somewhat darker in colour ; and the hairs are rather 

 more plentiful about the forehead and shoulders. The mother shows 

 much attachment for it. 



"They have another female, which is undoubtedly with young by 

 the same male— a further support of the theory that the reproductive 

 faculties of the male, under domestication, are affected to a greater 

 extent, or more commonly, than those of the female. 



"The period of gestation in this case was just 629 days, from June 

 20, 1878, to March 10, 1880; she took the male some five or six 

 times during several days. 



" I see no reason now to doubt that they will successfully rear it. 

 The show will be here for a month yet ; and I shall watch the young 

 Elephant with much interest." 



The following papers were read : — 

 Proc. Zool. Soc— 1880, No. XV. 15 



