CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 237 



the ordinary herds do not average more than S feet. 1 The latter is about the height of 

 the Bengal Elephant, which, however, varies considerably, not only in height but in 

 stoutness, as shown by the designations of " slender-built " and "squat-built" Elephants 

 of the Sal Forests. Sanderson asserts that few female Indian Elephants attain to a 

 height of 8 feet at the shoulder. 



The statement first advanced by Cuvier, that the Asiatic Elephant has a nail more on 

 both fore and hind foot than in the African, may be pretty generally true ; but, as regards 

 the latter species, there are exceptions. Mr. Bartlett informs me that the female African 

 Elephant in the Zoological Gardens has four nails on the hind foot, whilst the male has 

 only three, and that sometimes the Asiatic has five instead of four nails on the hind foot. 



It has been asserted, moreover, that the Elephant of Asia displays a greater degree of 

 intelligence and aptitude for instruction. But I am assured by the above-named excel- 

 lent authority that, as far as the two African individuals now in the Zoological Gardens 

 are concerned, where they have been reared from the time they were calves, they are 

 " quite equal in intelligence to the Asiatic, and far more active, and that the male is as 

 good tempered as it is possible for any animal to be." 



The African Elephant. 



The natural history of the African Elephant is not so well known as that of its 

 more Eastern congener, at the same time it is easily distinguished from the latter. 

 Neither the crown of the head nor the back is so convex, and the ears are much broader, 

 and it is generally taller. There seems, however, considerable variability in the last- 

 named character. Livingstone, who had seen more Elephants than, perhaps, any African 

 traveller, observes that those living on the banks of the Zambesi averaged about 9 feet 

 10 inches in height, whilst further south the Elephants attained a height of 12 feet; 2 

 whilst Sir Samuel Baker considers that the Elephant at the sources of the Nile stands 

 about 10 feet 6 inches. Again, Livingstone speaks of a small race only 5 feet 8 inches 

 in height, 3 which would be about the dimensions of the dwarf Meplias Mnaidriensis of 

 Adams.* 



Distribution. — The view that all the remains of Elephants met with in British and 

 European strata represent the variable conditions of a single species should receive 

 support in the distribution of the animal in space and in time. Now, among the vast 

 quantities of molars and bones from Polar regions, not a trace of teeth referable to the 

 forms to which the names E. antiquus and R meridionalis have been given has been 



1 The Cingalese Elephant, although higher at the fore quarters than the Sal Forest Elephant, is other- 

 wise not so bulky. 



- ' Travels in South Africa, 1 p. 562. The fine male in the Zoological Gardens, Mr. Bartlett informs me, 

 although not yet full grown, is 1 1 feet 6 inches ; and the female, much younger, is 8 feet 2 inches in height. 



8 ' Last Journals,' vol. ii, p. 29. 



4 ' Trans. Zool. Soc.,' vol. ix, p. 116. 



33 



