1907.] EARS OF AFRICAN ELEPHANTS. 381 



Matscliie* proposed distinctive names for four of these local 

 races. 



In the discrimination of these races Dr. Matschie relied chiefly 

 upon the charactei-s affoi'ded by the ears, supplemented by others 

 derived from the skull ; and it is quite obvious that in the case of 

 an animal of the stature of Eleplias africanus some such limitation 

 of the bases of comparison is a practical necessity, seeing that 

 entire mounted specimens are few and far between in oui- 

 museums, while even mounted heads are comparatively uncommon. 

 Unfortunately no figures of either the ears or the skulls have 

 been published, so that it is in some instances a matter of con- 

 siderable difficulty to satisfactorily identify Dr. Matschie's local 

 races. 



Under these circumstances, I have thought it advisable to make 

 an attempt at jDutting matters on a more satisfactory footing by 

 comparing the ears of such examples of the Afiican Elephant as 

 are available, either in the form of actual specimens or in the 

 shape of photogi'aphs, and to figure some of the more striking- 

 types. I have taken the ear as the standard of comparison pri- 

 marily for the I'eason that it was specially selected by Dr. Matschie ; 

 and, secondly, because, with the exception of the tusks, it is the 

 one external portion of the animal which seems best suited for 

 this purpose, and is likewise one of which examples are not un- 

 frequently brought home by sportsmen. 



The distinctive features afforded by the ear ai'e exemplified not 

 only by variation in the matter of contour, but likewise by dif- 

 ferences in relative (and also in absolute) size. Why such 

 differences should exist (or why, for that matter, the ear of the 

 African Elephant should in all cases be so much larger than that 

 of its Asiatic cousin) it is hard indeed to divine ; but that they do 

 exist, and in a very marked degree, will be appai-ent from the figures 

 in this paper, all but one of which are reproduced from photographs. 

 Then comes the question whether they are locally constant. To this 

 question I cannot give an absolutely decisive answer. The speci- 

 mens which I have had the opportunity of comparing agree, 

 however, respectively with Dr. Matschie's desci-iptions of the 

 typical examples from the same localities ; while the numerous 

 examples of the Sudan or Ab5^ssinian Elephant which have come 

 tinder my notice, and likewise several of the Cape Elephants, all 

 conform in the matter of the size and shape of their ears to 

 their i-espective local types. So far, therefore, as the available 

 evidence goes, the various local representatives of the African 

 Elephant do seem to be fairly constant in this particular ; so that 

 the onus of proving the opposite of this rests, I venture to think, 

 with those who may take exception to the views here advanced. 

 In the matter of the i-elative size of the ear, it is important to 



* Sitz.-Ber. Ges. Naturfor. Berlin, 1900, pp. 189-190 ; a summary of the external 

 characters of these races is given hy the Hon. Walter Rothschild in an appendix 

 to Major Powell-Cotton's ' A Sporting Trip through Abyssinia,' London (Rowland 

 Ward, Ltd.) 1902. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1907, No. XXYI. 26 



