xm 



ally tuskers ; Burmese have been described as smaller and 

 somewhat weedy mucknasj but, according to Capt. Hood, tho 

 Burmese elephants are shorter, stouter, and more compact 

 than those of Hindustan being superior for hill work, carry- 

 ing loads over steep places and across swamp boggy ground 

 and they are excellent for draught purposes. The Chittagong 

 are good all round and make the best koonkies ; the Assamese 

 are large, both tall and massive, and excellent for hunting 

 purposes {Field). 



With regard to the Sumatran variety, Prince Lucien Bonaparte,* 

 summarizes Temminck's conclusions as follows : — "This species 

 is perfectly intermediate between the Indian and African, espe- 

 cially in the shape of the skull, and will certainly put an end to 

 the distinction between Elephas and Loxodon, with those who 

 admit that anatomical genus ; since although the crowns of 

 the teeth of E. Sumatranus are more like the Asiatic animal, 

 still the less numerous undulated ribbons of enamel are nearly 

 quite as wide as those forming the lozenges of the African. The 

 number of pairs of false ribs (which alone vary, the true ones 

 being always six) is fourteen, one less than in the Africanus, one 

 more than in the Indicus ; and so it is with the dorsal vertebrse-, 

 which are 20 in the sumatranus (21 and 19 in the others), whilst 

 the new species agrees with Africanus in the number of sacral 

 vertebrae (4) and with Indicus in that of caudal ones, which are 

 thirty -four." Schlegel confirms the identity of the Ceylon ele- 

 phant with that of Sumatra and shows that " the Indian species 

 is more robust and powerful; the proboscis longer and more 

 slender ; and the extremity (a point in which the elephant of 

 Sumatra resembles that of Africa) is more flattened and provided 

 with coarser and longer hair than that of India." 



Sanderson in 1882, enumerated the Government elephants as 

 follows : — Commissariat, Bengal and North India, 1,016; Bom- 

 bay, 78 ; Madras and Burma, 213 ; Forest, Frontier, Police, 

 Railway, Telegraph, and Public Works Departqient in India and 

 Burma, 300; Grand Total, 1,607 (and a few males kept for State 

 purposes). 



The Government hunting establishment (Keddah) at Dacca is 

 the only one at present working in India, Mr. Sanderson being 

 * Pro. Zool. Soc. Lond., I84d, p. 144 ; note. 



