PLATE XXII. 
ELEPHAS AFRICANUS. THE AFRICAN ELEPHANT. 
Olifant of the Dutch Colonists. ‘Clow and Maclouw of the Bechuana. 
GENERIC CHARACTER. — Male attains the height of twelve feet at the shoulder; droops considerably behind. Extreme 
length between eighteen and nineteen feet. Provided with a flexible proboscis and finger. Skin solid, black, rough, and nearly 
destitute of hair. Tail moderately long, and tufted with long hair of the thickness of common iron wire, set round the 
edges of the flattened extremity. Head rounder, forehead more convex, and ears four times larger than in the Asiatic variety. 
The latter appendages extremely flat, reaching to the setting on of the legs, and overlapping each other at the top of the 
neck. Legs pillar-like and shapeless. Five toes on all the feet, so encrusted in the callous skin which envelopes them, that their 
existence is only indicated externally by the nails. Double the circumference of the foot invariably denotes the height at the 
withers. Tusks two, composed of solid ivory, arched and springing from immediately before the eyes; eight or nine feet in 
length, and often weighing each more than one hundred pounds. No canine or incisorial teeth. Two enamelled molars or 
grinders in each jaw, marked with lozenge-shaped ribands. These teeth are shed and renewed during the whole life, as 
occasion requires, by a lateral process—a new tooth growing from behind, gradually forcing the old one forward, and eventually 
taking its place, so that at certain periods the total number in the head may be eight instead of four. 
Female from eight to nine feet high, usually provided with tusks about four feet in length. Mamme two, placed be- 
tween the fore-legs. Male sometimes found alone, but the species usually gregarious in large troops. Still said to exist in 
the forest of Zitzikamma, and is common in the extensive plains, woods, and hills, of the interior. 
