716 
AFRICAN GAME ANIMALS 
we have applied the older name, africana , to the form in¬ 
habiting the Congo basin, which may be taken as repre¬ 
senting part, at least, of the area which Blumenbach called 
Middle Africa. Since the eighteenth century no new names 
for African elephants have been proposed until the year 
1900, when Matschie published a paper describing three 
new species, one from East Africa, another from Abyssinia, 
and a third from the Cameroons. Matschie recognized 
four species: capensis of South Africa, knochenhaueri of 
East Africa, oxyotis of Abyssinia, and cyclotis of West Africa, 
typically the Cameroons. His species were founded upon 
differences in ear shape chiefly and, as far as our present 
knowledge is concerned, hold good as racial distinctions, 
with the exception of the distinctions drawn between the 
East African and the Cape elephant, which are apparently 
racially identical. The Cape or East African race is char¬ 
acterized by the large size of the ear, which has a height in 
adult bulls of from 4 to 5^ feet, or quite half that of the 
standing height of the animal. The ear is rectangular in 
shape, being folded in at the top so that the upper outline 
runs parallel with the neck, and the point or lappet being 
formed by the lower margin and the hinder meeting at 
right angles below the throat, or rather in front of the chest, 
gives the ear its rectangular shape. This is the largest 
race, the record elephants in height of body and dimensions 
of tusks being South or East African specimens. In the 
highland region of Abyssinia, particularly the northern 
slopes of its plateau region in the area drained by the Blue 
Nile and the Atbara River, we find a second race of ele¬ 
phants, called by Matschie oxyotis. It may be distinguished 
from the East African race, or capensis , by the absence of 
the fold on the upper margin of the ears, the ears folding 
over the nape of the neck but not bent back upon them¬ 
selves. The ear is also more pointed or pear-shaped, being 
narrower, with a longer lappet. In some specimens the 
hinder and part of the upper margin of the ear is folded 
forward for a width of two or three inches, as in the Indian 
elephant. The species described from the Cameroons by 
Matschie as cyclotis is the most distinct in ear shape of all 
the races. The ear in this race is elongate and evenly 
rounded on its entire hinder border and is without any fold 
