74 
HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
will acknowledge this. The gardening was always 
considered good, but it seems to me of late years 
Ave have had rather too much of it; I have rather 
severe views on this point, and think that lawns 
and such trees and shrubs as bear food for the 
stock should be the only vegetation to be per- 
mitted in a zoo. However, it is not likely that I 
shall ever be permitted to air my unorthodoxy by 
having a zoo of my own to direct, so I will spare 
the readers of this Magazine any more of it, 
merely remarking that, though the old manage- 
ment had let the Zoo run down after Abraham 
Bartlett's death, and it was never equal to the 
modern zoo as a spectacle, as a scientifir collection 
and a school of practical animal management it 
was at its best superior, so far as my recollections 
permit me to compare the two. 
-®- 
DWARF ELEPHANTS. 
A NEW AFRICAN SPECIES. 
"The Times" of the Dth January, 1918, con- 
tains the following interesting account : — 
"There have recently arrived in England 
evidences of the most important _ zoological 
discovery that has come to light since the 
finding of that strange beast, the Okapi, in 
the Congo forest some years back. This 
discovery proves very completely the existence 
of a new and hitherto unknown species of ele- 
phant, a real dwarf elephant, which in adult 
specimens attains no greater height than 
about 5ft. 6in. to 6ft., or about half the height 
at the shoulder of the ordinary African ele- 
phant. 
"Two complete specimens, male and fe- 
male, have reached Messrs. Rowland Ward 
(Limited), the taxidermists and naturalists, of 
167, Piccadilly. These extraordinary ele- 
phants were shot in the Congo country by Mr. 
J. Rowland Evans; one complete specimen is 
to be offered to the Natural History Museum, 
at South Kensington, by the generosity of 
Mr. R. L. Scott, a well-known East African 
and Rhodesian big game sportsman. The 
destination of the other is at present undeter- 
mined. Opportunity has been given of exam- 
ining carefully the evidences of this new and 
remarkable discovery, which include not only 
the complete skins of the two dwarf elephants, 
but the bones, skulls, and tusks of the ani- 
mals. Both are evidently full-grown beasts, 
the molars being much worn from many rears 
of use. The legs, ears, and tails are of dis- 
tinctive character, and there can, one believes, 
be no doubt that the specimens of this invalu- 
able zoological fitd are destined to be classed 
by scientific naturalists as a completely new 
species of elephant. 
"There have been rumours for some years 
past of an African dwarf elephant, but hither- 
to no real evidences of the fact have reached 
this country. The tusks of the two animals, 
which are very dark and show strong signs 
of wear and tear and of excosure to a moist 
or muddy habitat, are extraordinarily small. 
Those of the female weigh no more than 21b. 
the pair, while the tusks oc the male reach 
71b. the pair. The tusks of a well-grown 
African bull elephant from the region of the 
great central lakes often attain as much as 
1101b. apiece, or 2201b. the pair, while in par- 
ticularly fine examples a single tusk has been 
known to scale the enormous weight of 1801b. 
It will be seen, therefore, how puny are the 
tusks of the new dwarf elephant. 
" By the natives of the region from which 
these very interesting mammals have been 
received this dwarf species is known as the 
'swimming' or 'water elephant, pretty con- 
clusive testimony that these animals, as their 
discoloured tusks show, are found in a watery 
habitat. A few years ago much interest was 
evinced in the accounts brought to Europe 
of a 'Bamboo dwarf elephant, shot in the 
Rukiga district of the Eastern Congo by Dr. 
C. H. Marshall, of the Anglo-Belgian Bound- 
ary Commission; but this was apparently a 
considerably bigger race, the measurement 
at the shoulder of an adult female reaching 
8ft. 9in., while the tusks scaled respectively 
121b. and 151b. apiece. It would seem, there- 
fore, that the new specimens received by 
Messrs. Rowland Ward are the real pigmies 
among African elephants, while the 'Bamboo' 
race occupies a position midway between the 
pigmy and the big species. From Africa, as 
Pliny long since remarked, there is always 
something new, and this latest discovery 
should prove of remarkable interest to all 
naturalists and sportsmen." 
In the year 1904 — 5 when visiting Brazzaville, 
Congo Basin, I made the acquaintance of Mon- 
sieur Le Petit, a French hunter of some considera- 
ble renown. M. le Petit assured me that when 
hunting round Lake Leopold II. he saw not only 
the Dwarf Elephants, but also that mysterious 
animal, "The Water Elephant." Whether they 
are one and the same animals I cannot say. 
There are stranger animals than "The Water 
Elephant" or "The Dwarf Elephant" to be found 
in the Congo Forest Region. Thev will all be 
discovered in time. 
JOHN I). HAMLYN. 
15th January, 1918. 
