UNITY OR PLURALITY OF SPECIES. 



257 



According to this table, the Continental Indian Elephant 

 has only 19 dorsal vertebrae and 19 pairs of ribs ; while the 

 Sumatran species has 20 of each, the African Elephant 

 having 21; being differences which, if proved to be constant, 

 would be of considerable systematic importance. 



The difference in external form between the Indian and 

 African species is so pronounced, that either can be told off 

 at a glance even from the stamp of a Greek or Roman com. 

 Admitting the general form and small ears to be alike in the 

 Indian and Sumatran Elephants, Professor Schlegel has only 

 a slight difference in slenderness of the general proportions, 

 a more slender form of the trunk, and a larger terminal 

 fringe of bristles to the tail, 2 to rely upon. But even in the 

 Sal forests of North Western India, at the extreme northern 

 limit of the species at the present day, the difference of 

 slender-built and squat-built Elephants is well known, being 

 expressed by Corse, for the Bengal variety, under the de- 

 signation of ' mirghi,' or Cervine for the former, and ' Koo- 

 marea ' for the latter, or when the characters are combined 

 ' Sunkareah.' 3 The trunk varies in a similar manner, being 



1 Schlegel expressly states, ' that the 

 number of true ribs is alike in all the 

 species, that is only five ; ' but there is 

 evidently a numerical slip in the ciphers 

 which he immediately afterwards assigns 

 to the false ribs, namely, 15, 14, and 13 

 respectively, in the three different species, 

 which would give a total of 20, 19, and 

 18, instead of 21, 20, and 19, being the 

 asserted aggregate of pairs correspond- 

 ing with the assigned number of dorsal 

 vertebra? in the different species. (Nat. 

 Hist. Review, vol. ii. p. 75.) 



8 The distinctions indicated were, 

 according to the statement of Prof. 

 Schlegel, founded on the observation of 

 Heer Westermann, upon two fomale 

 Elephants in the Zoological Garden at 

 Amsterdam, the one from Calcutta, the 

 VOL. II. S 



other Sumatran. It must be admitted, 

 that the number of objects compared is 

 hardly sufficient to sustain the position. 

 The original passage in Schlegel's 

 memoir is thus : — ' Dat het een' langeren 

 en dunneren snuit heeft ; dat de Staart 

 aan het einde meer afgeplat en met 

 langere, zware haren bezet is,' &c. The 

 version given in the 'Nat. Hist. Review,' 

 is ' that the rump at the end is more 

 broadened, and covered with longer and 

 stronger hairs' (Op. cit. p. 76). In 

 Tennent's ' Natural History of Ceylon,' 

 the character of flattening with longer 

 hair is made to apply to the extremity 

 of the proboscis, instead of the tail 

 (Op. cit. p. 66). The version given in 

 the text is the correct one. 



Philosoph. Transacts. 1799, p. 205. 



