1907.] EARS OF AFRICAN ELEPlfANTS. 395 



same type of Elephant would be fouml in botli ai'eas. The head 

 of an elephant from the former distiict, shot by Mr. H. S. H. 

 Cavendish and now in the British Museum (text-fig. 115), appears, 

 however, to be distinct from Mr. Peel's specimen, though the ears 

 are of the same general type in the two. Owing to the difl'erent 

 angles at which the photographs have been taken, it is difficult to 

 determine whether or no the ears of the pi-esent specimen rise so 

 high above the vertex as in Mr. Peel's elephant. They are, 

 however, relatively broader (vei-tical diameter 2 feet 10 inches, 

 transverse diameter 2 feet 1 1 inches), and show a decided, although 

 not sharp, external angle, while the lappet is shorter and sharper. 

 They are considerably reflected at the sides, but scarcely at all at 

 the top. I think I may venture to make this specimen the type 

 of a. race, with the designation Elephas cifricanus cavendishi. It 

 will be distinguished from JiJ. a. ktiochenhaueri (as represented by 

 the British Museum specimen) by the larger and less distinctl}^ 

 triangular ear, of which the upper boi-cler is moi'e regularly 

 convex, the outer angle less defined, and the lappet longer and 

 nari'owei-. 



To U. a. cavendishi may be assigned the head of a bull Elephant 

 shot in the Galla Country, on the south-west border of Somali- 

 land, in the museum of Sir E. C Loder, to whom I am indebted 

 for the photogi-aph of it. The Galla Country is no gi-eat distance 

 from Lake Rudolf, and Sir E. G. Loder's specimen is so like 

 the one given by Mr. Cavendish to the British Museum that 

 the photograph of the former might almost be mistaken for thet 

 of the lattei'. I think Mr. Gillett's elephant also belongs to this 

 race. 



Here I may refer to a, veiy interesting photogi-aph of a male 

 South Somali Elephant taken in the act of charging, with its ears 

 cocked, by Mr. R. McD. Hawker in 1906, and presented by him 

 to the British Museum. The small scale of the photograph does 

 not admit of any definite statement with regard to this elephant, 

 which seems to have proportionately smaller ears than the fore- 

 going specimens. 



Next on the list of races named on the evidence of the contour 

 of the ear comes the Sudan, or Abyssinian Elephant {Elephas 

 africamos oxyotis) of Dr^ Matschie, typically from the Upper 

 Atbai'a Valley, of which numerous examples have been recoi-ded. 

 Dr. Matschie describes the ears as semicircular, with a very long 

 and sharp lappet. A very long and narrow triangle, of which 

 the upper side is convex, terminating infei-iorly in a long, sharp, 

 f orwardly-directed lappet, with the upper border I'eflected forwards 

 and the two ears ovei'lapping in the middle line when in re].)ose, 

 seems a better definition. It must, however, be admitted that 

 precise definition of the ear -characters of the various races is 

 almost an impossibility, and that reference to figures or specimens 

 is essential. With regard to the value to be attached to the 

 forward bending of the upper rim of the ear, I am uncertain. In 

 many mounted specimens this rim is backwardly reflexed ; but 



