CONCLUDING OBSERVATIONS. 
237 
the ordinary herds do not average more than 8 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 Eorests. 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; 3 
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, 8 which would be about the dimensions of the dwarf Elephas Mnaidriensis of 
Adams. 4 
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 TL antiquus and E. 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,’ p. 562. The fine male in the Zoological Gardens, Mr. Bartlett informs me, 
although not yet full grown, is ] 1 feet 6 inches ; and the female, much younger, is 8 feet 2 inches in height. 
3 ‘ Last Journals,’ vol. ii, p. 29. 
4 ‘Trans. Zool. Soc.,’ vol. ix, p. 116. 
