128 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [May, 



In noticing the Central Province elephant, I omitted to state that 

 in one prominent feature, it closely resembles the Ceylon elephant, 

 viz. in the small proportion of tuskers to " macknas" (or male ele- 

 phants without tusks). The habits of all elephants are the same, and 

 all seem equally capable of being trained for the use of man. 



An elephant arrives at maturity at from 25 to 30 years of age, 

 and I am of opinion that in their wild state the average duration of 

 life is about 80 to 100 years, though it is extremely difficult to ascer- 

 tain this point, and I may mention that out of a herd of 30 or 40 

 elephants, it is not at all uncommon to find only one really old 

 female. 



The female elephant begins to breed at about 18 years of age, and 

 goes on breeding for 40 or 50 years, giving birth to a young one 

 about once in 5 years : this I have ascertained from careful observa- 

 tion. 



The period of gestation varies from 18 to 24 months. 



A large proportion of males never attain a large size, but are puny 

 and stunted, though why, I cannot understand. Of those that do 

 attain a large size, (say 1 in 10,) the smallest are always killed or 

 turned out of the herd by the larger ones, and this of course tends to 

 keep up the size of the breed. 



It is a remarkable fact that a dead elephant is never found in the 

 jungle, and therefore I believe that when about to die they retire to 

 the most inaccessible parts of the forest. 



A female elephant suckles her young till another is born. I have 

 seen a young one of 12 years of age, sucking. 



If a young one strays from its mother, and finds her again after two 

 or three days, the old elephant will not own it, but drive it 

 away. 



Elephants copulate in exactly the same manner as horses, but very 

 rarely in confinement, though I have known two or three instances. 

 A male elephant, captured by me on January 7th of this year, covered 

 a female while in the stockade. 



In their wild state, elephants are excessively timid, and very rarely 

 attack a man even in self-defence. 



The average number of a herd of elephants is about 20 or 25, they 

 have a female at their head, who leads the way ; in the cold weather 



