FEMALE OEGANS OP TUB PEOBOSCIDEA. 129 



which I had lately in my possession. In these the animals are represented during 

 coitus as occupying the position described by BufFon, Slym, and Crisp. This I believe 

 to be the true one. 



Position of the Young in utero. — With regard to this we know little or nothing. 

 Professor Owen's ' observations on the placenta of the Elephant throw no light on this 

 point. "We know, however, that in some animals the foetus is lodged in the corpus 

 uteri, in others in the cornua, and in others in both corpus and cornua uteri. In the 

 Elephant the structure of all of these parts is alike, and apparently equally adapted to 

 the accommodation of the young. At the same time it ought to be I'emembered that 

 the mucous membrane covering the septum uteri of my specimen did not present to 

 the naked eye the same soft, spongy structure that characterized it in other parts. 

 Nor is its appearance such as to lead one to believe that during the period of gestation 

 it is capable of undergoing those vascular clianges which are essential to the formation 

 of a placenta and the nutrition of the embryo. Professor Owen, however, has shown 

 that the placenta of the Indian Elephant is annular in character ; and I am therefore 

 inclined to think that either the septum uteri is absorbed and disappears before the 

 parent reaches sexual maturity (a view supported by the observations of several 

 anatomists already referred to), or that the young must be accommodated within one or 

 other of the cornua rather than in the corpus uteri. Otherwise it is difficult to 

 account for the completely annular character of the placenta described and figured by 

 that anatomist. 



P.S., Feb. 1st, 1881. — Since the above was in type, I have, through the courtesy of the author, received a 

 copy of Dr. Chapman's paper " On the Placenta and Generative Apparatus of the Elephant"^. Dr. Chapman's 

 observations confirm my own with regard to the essential similarity in structure of the female organs of the 

 Indian and African Elephants, but differ with respect to the position of the female during copulation. Accord- 

 ing to the keeper (Sir. George ArstiiigstaU) of the Elephant the placenta of which forms the subject of the 

 greater number of Dr. Chapman's remarks, the female during coitus assumed the same position as the Cow or 

 Mare under similar circumstances. This statement is corroborated by Corse ^, who himself was an eye-witness 

 of the copulation of two tame Indian Elephants. It appears, therefore, that on the one hand we have the 

 evidence of two eye-witnesses (Bles, quoted by Buffon', and Crisp*) who maintain that copulation takes place 

 whilst the female rests upon the fore knees, and two (Sanderson ° and Arstiugstall) who allege that the act is 

 performed whilst the female occupies the position usual among quadrupeds. Under these circumstances it 

 appears safe to assume that copulation may take place while the female occupies either of these two positions, 

 although, as above remarked, the anatomical disposition of the female organs lends most support to the views 

 of the first-named observers. 



Dr. Chapman is of opinion that, with the single instance of Elephants breeding in captivity recorded by 

 Professor Owen", the case reported by himself is the only one on record. This, however, is erroneous, another 



' PhU. Trans. 1857, p. 347. ^ Journal of the Acad, of Nat. Science, Philadelphia, vol. viii. 



^ " Observations on the Natural History of the Elephant," Phil. Trans. January 2-4th, 1799. 



■" Natural History by the Couut de Butfon, English translation, vol. vi. p. 90 : Edinb. 17S0. 



' Lancet, 1854, vol. ii. p. 448. ^ ' Thirteen Years among the Wild Beasts of India,' p. 94. 



' Anat. of Vertebrates, vol. iii. p. 742. 



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