PORCUPINE-LIKE RODENTS.
This section contains six families, viz.:--
_Octodontidae_ = 3 sub-families, 18 genera.
_Hystricidae_ = 2 sub-families, 5 genera.
_Chinchillidae_ = 5 genera, of which two are fossil.
_Dasyproctidae_ = 2 genera.
_Dionymidae_ = 1 genus.
_Caviidae_ = 3 genera.
Of these we have to deal with but one, the second family,
_Hystricidae_, the rest belonging to Africa in part, but the majority
to the American continent, chiefly South America.
I give the general characteristics of the section as laid down by
Mr. Alston:--
"One premolar above and below (except in _Ctenodactylus_); grinding
teeth rooted or rootless, not tuberculate; frontals with no distinct
post-orbital processes (except in _Chaetomys_); infra-orbital
opening large, sub-triangular, or oval; zygomatic arch
proportionately stout; molar not advancing far forward, (except in
_Ctenodactylinae_ and _Chinchillidae_) and not supported below by
a continuation of the maxillary zygomatic process; incisive foramina
small; foramina in the base of skull proportionally large; an
inter-pterygoid fissure; mandible with its angular portion
springing from the _outer side_ of the bony covering of the lower
incisor, triangular, usually pointed behind; coronoid process small,
and condyle low; clavicles perfect or imperfect; fibula persistent
as a distinct bone throughout life; upper lip rarely cleft; muffle
clad with fine hairs; nostrils pointed above, sigmoid or linear; ears
usually emarginate behind; tail hairy, sub-naked, or scaly."--'P.
Z. S.,' 1876, p. 90.
As I have said before, we have only to do with the _Hystricidae_ or
Porcupines, but many of the others are familiar by name. Of the
_Octodontidae_ the best known is the coypu of the Andes, one of the
largest of the rodents, and the ground-rat or ground-pig of western
and southern Africa. The chinchilla, which is the typical form of
the third family, is known to all, especially ladies, from its
delicate soft fur. The agouti of South America is the representative
of the _Dasyproctidae_. The family _Dinomyidae_ consists of one
animal only, _Dinomys Branickii_; the only known example of which
was obtained in Peru on the Montana de Vitoc. It was found walking
about in a yard at daybreak, and showed so little fear of man that
it suffered itself to be killed by the stroke of a sword. It is a
pity no one was sensible enough to try and take it alive. As yet
nothing is known of its habits. Of the last family, _Caviidae_, the
cavy and the capybara are well known to travellers in South America,
and the common guinea pig is familiar to us all.
FAMILY HYSTRICIDAE--THE PORCUPINES.
In this family the hairs of the body are more or less converted into
spines or quills; the form of the skull is peculiar, being ovate,
often greatly inflated with air cavities in the bones; the facial
portion is broad and short; the malar portion of the zygomatic arch
has no inferior angular process as in the _Octodontidae_; the
occipital plane or hinder-surface is perpendicular, with a median
ridge; the incisor teeth are large and powerful; the molars with
external and internal folds, four in each jaw. The form is robust;
limbs sub-equal; fore-feet with four toes, and a small wart-like
thumb; hind-feet with four and five toes; tail long in some, short
in others. There are two sub-families--_Sphingurinae_ and
_Hystricinae_. With the genera of the first we have nothing to do.
They include the prehensile-tailed porcupines of South America,
_Sphingurus prehensilis_, _S. villosus_, and _S. Mexicanus_, all
arboreal forms, and the Canada porcupine (_Erythizon dorsatus_)
which is covered with woolly hairs and spines intermixed. The true
porcupines, sub-family _Hystricinae_, consist of two genera, both
of which are represented in India--_Atherura_ and _Hystrix_.
[Illustration: Skull of Porcupine.]
SUB-FAMILY HYSTRICINAE--THE TRUE PORCUPINES.
Grinding teeth semi-rooted; skull rather more elongate;
infra-orbital foramen of great size; clavicles imperfect, attached
to the sternum, and not to the scapula; upper lip furrowed; tail not
prehensile; soles of feet smooth. The female has six mammae. In these
points they differ from the American arboreal porcupines
(_Sphingurus_), the skull of which is very short, the tail prehensile,
the soles of the feet tuberculated, and the female has only four
mammae.
The two genera, _Atherura_ and _Hystrix_, which compose this
sub-family, are distinguished by long tail and flattened spines
(_Atherura_); and short tail and round spines (_Hystrix_).
_GENUS ATHERURA--THE LONG-TAILED PORCUPINE_.
Nasal part of skull moderate; upper molars with one internal and
three or four external folds, the latter soon separated as enamel
loops; the lower teeth similar but reversed; the spines are flattened
and channelled; the tail long and scaly, with a tuft of bristles at
the end.
NO. 402. ATHERURA FASCICULATA.
_The Brush-tailed Porcupine_.
HABITAT.--Assam, Khasia hills, Tipperah hills, Burmah, Siam, and the
Malayan peninsula.
DESCRIPTION.--"The general tint of the animal is yellowish-brown,
freckled with dusky brown, especially on the back; the spines, taken
separately, are brown white at the root, and become gradually darker
to the point; the points of the spines on the back are very dark,
being of a blackish-brown colour. The long and stout bristles, which
are mixed with the spines on the back, are similarly coloured"
(_Waterhouse_, 'Mammalia,' vol. ii. p. 472). The spines are flat on
the under-surface and concave on the upper, sharply pointed and
broadest near the root. Mixed with the spines on the back are long
bristles, very stout, projecting some three inches beyond the spines,
which are only about an inch in length; below these is a scanty
undergrowth of pale coloured hairs; the tail is somewhat less than
half the length of the head and body, scaly, and at the end furnished
with a large tuft of flattened bristles from three to four inches
long, of a dirty white colour, with sometimes dusky tips; the ears
are semi-ovate; whiskers long and stout, and of a brown colour;
muzzle hairy; feet short, five toes, but the thumb very small, with
a short rounded nail.
SIZE.--Head and body, 18 inches; tail, exclusive of tuft, 7-1/2
inches.
Specimens of this animal were sent home to the Zoological Gardens,
from Cherrapoonjee in the Khasia hills, by Dr. Jerdon. This species
is almost the same as the African form (_A. Africana_). They are about
the same in size and form and in general appearance. This last is
found in such plenty, according to Bennett, in the Island of Fernando
Po as to afford a staple article of food to the inhabitants. Blyth
was of opinion that the Indian animal is much paler and more freckled
than the African.
_GENUS HYSTRIX--THE PORCUPINE_.
"Spines cylindrical; tail short, covered with spines and
slender-stalked open quills; nasal cavity usually very large; air
sinuses of frontals greatly developed; teeth as in _Atherura_. The
hind-feet with five toes; claws very stout."
The hinder part of the body is covered by a great number of sharp
spines, ringed black and white, mostly tipped with white; the spines
are hollow or filled with a spongy tissue, but extremely tough and
resistant, with points as sharp as a needle. The animal is able to
erect these by a contraction of the skin, but the old idea that they
could be projected or shot out at an assailant is erroneous. They
easily drop out, which may have given an idea of discharge. The
porcupine attacks by backing up against an opponent or thrusting at
him by a sidelong motion. I kept one some years ago, and had ample
opportunity of studying his mode of defence. When a dog or any other
foe comes to close quarters, the porcupine wheels round and rapidly
charges back. They also have a side-way jerk which is effective.
NO. 403. HYSTRIX LEUCURA.
_The White-tailed Indian Porcupine_ (_Jerdon's No. 204_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Kanta-sahi_, _Sayi_, _Sayal_, _Sarsel_, Hindi;
_Sajru_, Bengali; _Chotia-dumsee_, Nepali; _Saori_, Gujrati;
_Salendra_ and _Sayal_, Mahrathi; _Yed_, Canarese; _Ho-igu_, Gondi;
_Phyoo_, Burmese; _Heetava_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--All over India (except perhaps Lower Bengal), Burmah and
Ceylon.
[Illustration: _Hystrix leucura_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Blackish-brown; muzzle clad with short, stiff,
bristly hairs; whiskers long and black, and a few white spines on
the face; spines on the throat short, grooved, some with white
setaceous points forming a half-collar; crest of head and neck formed
of long black bristles, with here and there one with a long white
tip; the spines of the sides are short, flattish, grooved or striated,
mostly with white points; the large quills of the back are either
entirely black or ringed at the base and middle with white, a few
with white tips; the longer and thinner quills on the back and sides
have long white terminations; many of these again, particularly the
longest, have a basal and one or two central white rings; the short
quills on the mesial line of the lumbar region are nearly all white,
and the longer striated quills of this region are mostly white;
quills of the tail white or yellowish, a few black ones at the root;
pedunculated quills are long, broad, and much flattened in old
animals.
SIZE.--Head and body, 32 inches; tail, 8 inches.
The description given in his 'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae' by Dr.
Kellaart, who was a most careful observer, has been of great
assistance to me in the above, as it was also, I fancy, to Jerdon,
and his subsequent remarks are worthy of consideration. "The
identification of species from single characters," he observes, "is
at all times difficult and unsatisfactory in the genus _Hystrix_,
particularly so as regard the conformation of the skull." And again:
"The number of molars varies also in different specimens. In two
adults obtained at Trincomalee there were only three molars on each
side of the jaw, four being the dental formula of the genus
_Hystrix_."
I think such aberrations ought to warn us from trying to make too
many genera out of these animals. Dr. Gray, whose particular
forte--or shall I say weakness?--was minute subdivision, classed (in
1847) the Indian porcupines in three sub-families, _Hystrix_,
_Acanthion_, and _Atherura_; and _Acanthion_ he some years after
(1866, _see_ 'P. Z. S.' p. 308) divided again into three groups,
_OEdocephalus_, _Acanthochaerus_ and _Acanthion_. The difference in
the skull of _Hystrix_ and _Acanthion_ lies in the intermaxillaries
and the grinders, as follows:--
_Hystrix_--Inter-max. broad, truncated, wide behind as before;
_grinders_ oblong, longer than broad, one fold on the inner, and
three or four on the outer side.
_Acanthion_--Inter-max. triangular, tapering behind; _grinders_
sub-cylindrical, not longer than broad, one fold on the inner, two
or three on the outer side.
According to Waterhouse the European porcupine (_Hystrix cristata_
of Linnaeus) is the _Acanthion Cuvieri_ of Gray; and Gray, who
afterwards modified his views of 1847 in 1866, wrote of it: "I am
not aware of any external characters by which this species can be
distinguished from the _Hystrix cristata_, though the skull is so
different." Gray in another place writes that: "Though the skulls
of _H. leucurus_ preserve a very distinct character, yet they vary
so much amongst themselves as to show that skulls afford no better
character for the distinction of species than any other single
character, such as colour, but can only be depended on when taken
in connection with the rest of the organisation." In these
circumstances I think it will be better not to attempt any further
subdivision of the Indian porcupines in the present work beyond the
two already given, viz. _Hystrix_ and _Atherura_. There is a great
similarity between the Indian _H. leucura_ and the European _H.
cristata_. According to Waterhouse the quills in the lumbar region,
which are white in the Indian, are dusky in the European, which last
has long white points to the bristles of the crest, whereas in the
Indian one some only of the points are white, and the rest quite
brown.
The Indian porcupine lives in burrows, in banks, hill sides, on the
bunds of tanks, and in the sides of rivers and nullahs. It is
nocturnal in its habits, and in the vicinity of cultivation does much
damage to such garden stuff as consists of tubers or roots. In the
jungle its food consists chiefly of roots, especially of some kinds
of wild yam (_Dioscorea_). I have found porcupines in the densest
bamboo jungles of the central provinces, where their food was
doubtless young bamboo shoots and various kind of roots.
The porcupine all the world over is known to be good eating, and is
in many countries esteemed a delicacy. The flesh is white and tender,
and is much prized by most people in those places where it abounds.
Brigadier-General McMaster, in his 'Notes on Jerdon,' in speaking
of the only instance where he found a porcupine on the move after
daylight, says: "Just at dawn a porcupine appeared, and, as I suppose
his house was somewhere between us, trotted and fed, grunting
hog-like, about the little valley at our feet until long after the
sun was well up, and until I, despairing of other game, and bearing
in mind his delicious flesh (for that of a porcupine is the most
delicate I know of), shot him. Well may the flesh be tender and of
delicate flavour, for, as many gardeners know to their cost,
porcupines are most scrupulously dainty and epicurean as to their
diet. A pine-apple is left by them until the very night before it
is fit to be cut. Peas, potatoes, onions, &c., are not touched until
the owner has made up his mind that they were just ready for the
table." The Gonds in Seonee were always on the lookout for a porcupine.
I described in my book on that district the digging out of one.
"The entrance of the animal's abode was a hole in a bank at which
the dogs were yelping and scratching; but the bipeds had gone more
scientifically to work by countermining from above, sinking shafts
downwards at various points, till at last they reached his inner
chamber, when he scuttled out, and, charging backwards at the dogs
with all his spines erected, he soon sent them flying, howling most
piteously; but a Gondee axe hurled at his head soon put an end to
his career, for a porcupine's skull is particularly tender."
The female produces from two to four young, which are born with their
eyes open. Their bodies are covered with short soft spines, which,
however, speedily harden. It is said that the young do not remain
long with their mother, but I cannot speak to this from personal
experience. I have had young ones, but not those born in captivity.
NO. 404. HYSTRIX BENGALENSIS.
_The Bengal Porcupine_ (_Jerdon's No. 205_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Sajaru_ or _Sajru_, Bengali.
DESCRIPTION.--"Smaller than the last; crest small and thin; the
bristles blackish; body spines much flattened and strongly grooved,
terminating in a slight seta Or bristle; slender flexible quills much
fewer than in _leucura_, white, with a narrow black band about the
centre; the thick quills basally white, the rest black, mostly with
a white tip; a distinct white demi-collar; spines of lumbar region
white, as are those of tail and rattle; muzzle less hirsute than in
_leucura_."
SIZE.--Head and body, 28 inches; tail, 8 inches.
There is occasionally a variety to be found of this species with
orange-coloured quills, or rather the orange hue is assumed at times.
Jerdon mentions the fact that Sclater describes his _H. Malabarica_
as having certain orange-coloured quills in place of white, and also
that Blyth considered the two species identical. He also states that
Mr. Day procured specimens of the orange porcupine from the Ghats
of Cochin and Travancore, and that they were considered more delicate
eating by the native sportsmen, who aver that they can distinguish
the two kinds by the smell from their burrows; but he was not
apparently aware at the time that a specimen of _H. Malabarica_ with
orange quills in the Zoological Gardens in London moulted, and the
red quills were replaced by the ordinary black and white ones of the
common Indian kind. Dr. Sclater afterwards (_see_ 'P. Z. S.' 1871,
p. 234) came to the conclusion that _H. Malabarica_ was synonymous
with _H. leucura_.
NO. 405. HYSTRIX (ACANTHION) LONGICAUDA.
_The Crestless Porcupine_ (_Jerdon's No. 206_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Anchotia-sahi_ or _Anchotia-dumsi_ in Nepal;
_Sathung_, Lepcha; _O'--e_ of the Limbus (_Hodgson_). (N.B.--The
_ch_ must not be pronounced as _k_, but as _ch_ in church.) _Anchotia_
means crestless, the crested porcupine being called _Chotia-dumsi_.
HABITAT.--Nepal and Sikim, and on through Burmah to the Malayan
peninsula, where it was first discovered.
DESCRIPTION.--Distinguished from the other species "by its inferior
size, total absence of crest on its head, neck, and shoulders, by
its longer tail, by the white collar of the neck being evanescent;
and lastly by the inferior size and smaller quantity of the spines
or quills."--_Hodgson_.
It is covered with black spinous bristles from two to three inches
long, shortest on the head and limbs. The large quills of the back
and croup are from seven to twelve inches long, mostly with one
central black ring.
SIZE.--Head and body, 24 inches; tail, 4, or with the quills, 5-1/2
inches.
This is Hodgson's _H. alophus_, which is, I think, a more appropriate
name than the one given, for its tail is not so very long in proportion.
Hodgson says of it: "They breed in spring, and usually produce two
young about the time the crops ripen. They are monogamous, the pair
dwelling together in burrows of their own formation. Their flesh is
delicious, like pork, but much more delicate flavoured, and they are
easily tamed so as to breed in confinement. All tribes and classes,
even high-caste Hindoos, eat them, and it is deemed lucky to keep
one or two alive in stables, where they are encouraged to breed. Royal
stables are seldom without at least one of them."
This animal was described by Gray as _Acanthion Hodgsonii_, the
_lesser Indian porcupine_. Waterhouse, in writing of _Hystrix_
(_Acanthion_) _Javanica_, says: "The habits of the animal, as
recorded by Muller, do not differ from those of _H. Hodgsonii_"; and
Blyth, as mentioned by Jerdon, was of opinion that the two species
were one and the same. The _Acanthochaerus Grotei_, described and
figured by Dr. Gray in 1866 ('P. Z. S.' p. 306), is the same as this
species. It is to be found at Darjeeling amongst the tea plantations,
between 4000 and 5000 feet elevation.
NO. 406. HYSTRIX YUNNANENSIS.
HABITAT.--Burmah, in the Kakhyen hills, at elevations of from 2000
to 4500 feet.
DESCRIPTION.--after Dr. Anderson, who first discovered and named
this species: "Dark brown on the head, neck, shoulders, and sides
passing into a deep black on the extremities, a very narrow white
line passing backwards from behind the angle of the mouth to the
shoulder; under surface brownish; the spiny hairs of the anterior
part of the trunk flattened, grooved or ungrooved. The crest begins
behind the occiput and terminates before the shoulders; the hairs
are long, slender and backwardly curved, the generality of them being
about 4-1/2 inches long, while the longer hairs measure about six
inches.
"They are all paler than the surrounding hairs, and the individual
hairs are either broadly tipped with yellowish-white, or they have
a broad sub-apical band of that colour. The short, broad, spiny hairs,
lying a short way in front of the quills, are yellow at their bases,
the remaining portion being deep brown, whereas those more
quill-like spiny hairs, immediately before the quills, have both
ends yellow tipped.
"The quills are wholly yellow, with the exception of a dark brown,
almost black band of variable breadth and position. It is very broad
in the shorter quills, and is nearer the free end of the quill than
its base, whereas in the long slender quills it is reduced to a narrow
mesial band. The stout strong quills rarely exceed six inches in
length, whilst the slender quills are one foot long. Posteriorly
above the tail and at its sides many of the short quills are pure
white. The modified quills on the tail, with dilated barb-like free
ends are not numerous, and are also white. There are three kinds of
rattle quills, the most numerous measure 0.65 inch in the length of
the dilated hollow part, having a maximum breadth of 0.21 inch,
whilst there are a few short cups 0.38 inch in length, with a breadth
of 0.17 inch, and besides these a very few more elongated and narrow
cylinders occur."--'Anat. and Zool. Res.,' p. 332.
SUB-ORDER DUPLICIDENTATA--DOUBLE-TOOTHED RODENTS.
These rodents are distinguished by the presence of two small
additional incisors behind the upper large ones. At birth there are
four such rudimentary incisors, but the outer two are shed, and
disappear at a very early age; the remaining two are immediately
behind the large middle pair, and their use is doubtful; but, as
Dallas remarks, "their presence is however of interest, as
indicating the direction in which an alliance with other forms of
mammalia more abundantly supplied with teeth is to be sought."
Another distinctive characteristic of this sub-order is the
formation of the bony palate, which is narrowed to a mere bridge
between the alveolar borders, or portions of the upper jaw in which
the grinding teeth are inserted.
The following synopsis of the sub-order is given by Mr. Alston:--
"Incisors 4/2; at birth 6/2; the outer upper incisor soon lost; the
next pair very small, placed directly behind the large middle pair;
their enamel continuous round the tooth, but much thinner behind;
skull with the optic foramina confluent, with no true alisphenoid
canal; incisive foramina usually confluent; bony palate reduced to
a bridge between the alveolar borders; fibula anchylosed to tibia
below, and articulating with the calcaneum; testes permanently
external; no vescicular glands. Two families."--'P. Z. S.' 1876, p.
97.
[Illustration: Dentition of Hare.]
There are only two families each of one existing genus--LEPORIDAE,
genus _Lepus_, the Hare; and LAGOMYIDAE, genus _Lagomys_, the Pika,
or Mouse-Hare, as Jerdon calls it. There are three fossil genera in
the first family, viz. _Palaeolagus_, a fossil hare found in the
Miocene of Dacota and Colorado, _Panolax_ from the Pliocene marls
of Santa Fe, and _Praotherium_ from Pennsylvanian bone-caves. A
fossil Lagomys, genus _Titanomys_, is found in the Post-Pliocene
deposits in various parts of Europe, chiefly in the south.
FAMILY LEPORIDAE--THE HARES.
"Three premolars above and two below; molars rootless, with
transverse enamel folds dividing them into lobes; skull compressed;
frontals with large wing-shaped post-orbital processes; facial
portion of maxillaries minutely reticulated; basisphenoid with a
median perforation, and separated by a fissure from the vomer;
coronoid process represented by a thin ridge of bone; clavicles
imperfect; ears and hind-limbs elongated, tail short, bushy,
recurved."--_Alston_.
Hares are found all over the world except in Australasia. The Rabbit
is much more localised; in India we have none, unless the Hispid Hare,
the black rabbit of Dacca sportsmen, is a true rabbit; it is said
to burrow, but whether it is gregarious I know not. Another point
would also decide the question, viz. are the young born with eyes
open or shut? The hare pairs at about a year old, and has several
broods a year of from two to five; the young are born covered with
hair and their eyes open, whereas young rabbits are born blind and
naked. The hare lives in the open, and its lair or "form" is merely
a slight depression in some secluded spot. It has been noticed that
the hare always returns to its form, no matter to what distance it
may have wandered or have been driven.
_GENUS LEPUS_.
NO. 407. LEPUS RUFICAUDATUS.
_The Common Indian Red-tailed Hare_ (_Jerdon's No. 207_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Khargosh_, _Kharra_, Hindi; _Sasru_, Bengali;
_Mullol_, Gondi.
HABITAT.--India generally.
DESCRIPTION.--"General hue rufescent, mixed with blackish on the
back and head; ears brownish anteriorly, white at the base, and the
tip brown; neck, breast, flanks and limbs more or less dark sandy
rufescent, unmottled; nape pale sandy rufescent; tail rufous above,
white beneath; upper lip small; eye-mark, chin, throat, and lower
parts pure white."--_Jerdon_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 20 inches; tail, with hair, 4 inches; ear
externally about 5 inches; maximum weight, about 5 lbs.
The Indian hare is generally found in open bush country, often on
the banks of rivers, at least as far as my experience goes in the
Central Provinces. Jerdon says, and McMaster corroborates his
statement, that this species, as well as the next, take readily to
earth when pursued, and seem to be well acquainted with all the
fox-holes in their neighbourhood, and McMaster adds that they seem
to be well aware which holes have foxes or not, and never go into
a tenanted one.
The Indian hare is by no means so good for the table as the European
one, being dry and tasteless, and hardly worth cooking.
NO. 408. LEPUS NIGRICOLLIS.
_The Black-naped Hare_ (_Jerdon's No. 208_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Khargosh_, Hindi; _Malla_, Canarese; _Sassa_,
Mahrathi; _Musal_, Tamil; _Kundali_, Telegu; _Haba_, Singhalese.
HABITAT.--Southern India and Ceylon; stated to be found also in Sind
and the Punjab.
DESCRIPTION.--"Upper part rufescent yellow, mottled with black;
single hairs annulated yellow and black; chin, abdomen, and inside
of hind-limbs downy white; a black velvety spot on the occiput and
upper part of neck extending to near the shoulders; the spot under
the neck is in some specimens of a bright yellow colour; ears long,
greyish-brown, internally with white fringes, at the apical part
dusky, posteriorly black at the base; feet yellowish; tail above
grizzled with black and yellow, beneath white."--_Kellaart_.
SIZE.--Head and body, 19 inches; tail, 2-1/2 inches; ears, 4-3/4
inches.
A friend of Brigadier-General McMaster's, writing to him, says: "The
black-naped hare of the Neilgherries, which appears to be the same
as that of the plains, only larger from the effect of climate, often,
when chased by dogs, runs into holes and hollow trees. I have found
some of the Neilgherry hares to be nearly, if not quite, equal to
the English hares in flavour. I think a great deal depends upon
keeping and cooking."
NO. 409. LEPUS PEGUENSIS.
_The Pegu Hare_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Yung_, Arakanese.
HABITAT.--Pegu, Burmah.
DESCRIPTION.--Very like _L. ruficaudatus_, but with the tail _black_
above; the colour of the upper parts is separated more distinctly
from the pure white of the under parts.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 20 inches.
NO. 410. LEPUS HYPSIBIUS.
_The Mountain Hare_.
HABITAT.--Northern Ladakh.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour rufous brown, more or less mixed with black on
the back, dusky ashy on the rump; lower parts white with a slight
rufescent tinge, fur long, woolly, rather curly, and thick; head
brown, whitish round the eyes; whiskers partly black, partly white;
outside surface of ears brown in front, whitish behind, the brown
hairs having short black tips; the extreme tip of ears black; tail
white; throughout limbs chiefly white, a brownish band running down
the anterior portion of the fore-legs.
SIZE.--Of skin about 24 inches. (_See_ Blanford's 'Second Yarkand
Mission,' p. 60; also plate iii.)
NO. 411. LEPUS PALLIPES.
_The Pale-footed Hare_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Togh_, _Toshkhen_, _Yarkandi_, i.e. Mountain Hare.
HABITAT.--Yarkand; Thibet.
DESCRIPTION.--"Fur long, dense and soft, of a pale ochre colour, but
on the back of the animal pencilled with black; haunches greyish;
under-parts white, chest of a delicate yellow rufous tint; the front
of the fore-legs and the fore-feet nearly of the same hue; tarsus
almost white, but somewhat suffused with rufous in front; tail white,
excepting along the middle portion of the upper surface, where it
is grey."--Waterhouse's 'Mammalia,' vol. ii. p. 62.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 18 inches; tail, with hair about 5
inches.
This hare was first described by Hodgson ('J. A. S. B.,' vol. xi.),
who also gave a plate; but there is a full description with an
excellent plate in Blanford's 'Scientific Results of the Second
Yarkand Mission.'
NO. 412. LEPUS TIBETANUS.
_The Thibet Hare_.
HABITAT.--Little Thibet; Ladakh.
DESCRIPTION.--Ears longer than the head, margined with yellow white
internally, externally, with the apex, edged with black and with a
narrow edging of black extending about half-way down the hinder
margin. The general colour seems to vary, as is the case with most
of the mountain hares. According to Waterhouse it is "palish-ashy
grey; the back mottled with dusky and yellowish-white; the back of
neck pale rufous brown." Two specimens, described by Blanford, are
"general colour rufous brown (very dark brownish tawny)," and
another, "above dusky brown, with an ashy tinge on the rump."
Waterhouse's specimens may have been in the winter dress; the
under-parts are white; legs longish and white; tail white, with the
upper surface sooty or grey-black. The excellent plate in the Yarkand
Report is nearer to Waterhouse's verbal portraiture, being of a
mottled ashy grey.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 18 inches; tail, with hair, 4-1/2 inches.
NO. 413. LEPUS YARKANDENSIS.
_The Yarkand Hare_.
NATIVE NAME.--_Toshkhan_, Yarkandi.
HABITAT.--The plains of Yarkand and Kashghar.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour sandy, more or less mixed with
dusky; pale isabelline on the sides; no grey on rump; tail dark brown
above; ears without black tip; lower parts white; fur soft and long;
fore-legs very pale, brown in front; hind-legs still paler, brown
outside.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 17 inches; tail, 4 inches.
Mr. Blanford remarks that "one striking peculiarity of this very pale
coloured hare is the absence of any black patches, and of all grey
coloration throughout." The specimens were all shot in winter too.
(_See_ Blanford's 'Scientific Results, Second Yarkand Mission,' p.
65, and plate iv., fig. 1.)
NO. 414. LEPUS PAMIRENSIS.
_The Pamir Hare_.
HABITAT.--Lake Sirikal, Pamir.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale sandy brown; almost isabelline on back and sides;
rump greyish-white; tail black above; face and anterior portion of
the ears concolorous with back; terminal portion of ears black
outside at the edge; breast light rufous; lower parts white; fur fine,
close and soft; fore-legs in front, and hind-legs outside, with a
light brownish tinge.
SIZE.--Head and body, about 17 inches; tail, 4 inches.
The hare is described and named by Mr. W. T. Blanford, and from his
full description I have abridged the above short notice. It is also
well figured in the 'Yarkand Report,' plate v., fig. 1.
NO. 415. LEPUS STOLICZKANUS.
_Stoliczka's Hare_.
HABITAT.--Kashghar, Altum Artush district, north-east of Kashghar.
DESCRIPTION.--"General colour light sandy brown, much mixed with
black on the back; the rump very little paler; tail rather long, black
above; face and anterior portion of ears the same colour as the back;
terminal portion of ears black outside; nape and breast light rufous;
lower parts white. The skull differs much from that of _L.
Yarkandensis_ and _L. Pamirensis_, the nasals being much more
abruptly truncated behind than in either, and the parietal region
or sinciput flatter" (Blanford's 'Scientific Results, Second
Yarkand Mission,' p. 69, and plate v. fig. 2, skull plate, Va. fig.
2).
SIZE.--Head and body, about 17 inches; tail, with hair, 5 inches.
This hare was obtained by Dr. Stoliczka, and was first described and
named by Mr. W. T. Blanford ('J. A. S. B.' vol. xiv. 1875, part ii.
p. 110).
NO. 416. LEPUS CRASPEDOTIS.
_The Large-eared Hare_.
HABITAT.--Baluchistan, Pishin.
DESCRIPTION.--Colour brown above, white below; the fur of the back
is very pale French grey at the base, then black, and the tip is pale
brown, almost isabelline; the black rings are wanting on the nape,
hind neck and breast, which, like the fore-legs and hinder part of
the tarsi are pale rufous brown; ears externally mouse brown,
blackish-brown on the posterior portion near the tip, the anterior
edges white, with rather longer hairs, except near the tip, where
the hair is short and black; the posterior margins inside pale
isabelline, the pale edge becoming broader near the tip; tail black
above, white on the sides and below; whiskers black near the base,
white except in the shorter ones throughout the greater part of their
length; a pale line from the nose, including the eye, continued back
nearly to the ear (Blanford's 'Eastern Persia,' vol. ii. p. 81, with
plate).
SIZE.--Head and body, 15 inches; tail, with hair, 4.5 inches; ear,
6 inches; breadth of ear laid flat, 3.25 inches.
This is a new species, described and named by Mr. W. T. Blanford.
NO. 417. LEPUS HISPIDUS.
_The Hispid Hare_.
HABITAT.--The Terai and low forests at the base of the Himalayas.
DESCRIPTION.--"General colour dark or iron grey, with an embrowned
ruddy tinge, and the limbs shaded outside, like the body, with black,
instead of being unmixed rufous" (_Hodgson_). The inner fur is soft,
downy, and of an ash colour, the outer longer, hispid, harsh and
bristly. Some of the hairs ringed black and brown, others are pure
black and long, the latter more numerous; ears short and broad.
SIZE.--Head and body, 19-1/2 inches; tail, with hair, 2-1/8 inches;
ears, 2-3/4 inches.
This animal seems to be a link between the hares and the rabbits.
Like the latter, it burrows, and has more equal limbs; but, according
to Hodgson, it is not gregarious, but lives in pairs. It would greatly
help in the identification of its position if some one would procure
the young or a gravid female, and see whether the young are born blind
and naked as in the rabbits, or open-eyed and clad with fur as in
the hares. Jerdon says it is common at Dacca, and is reported to be
found also in the Rajmehal hills, and that its flesh is stated to
be white, like that of the rabbit.
FAMILY LAGOMYIDAE--THE PIKAS, OR MOUSE-HARES.
One or two premolars above and below; grinding teeth as in
_Leporidae_; skull depressed; the frontals are contracted, without
the wing-like processes of the hares; a single perforation in the
facial surface of the maxillaries; a curious prolongation of the
posterior angle of the malar into a process extending almost to the
ear tube, or auditory meatus; the basisphenoid is not perforated and
separated from the vomer as in _Lepus_; the coronoid process is in
the form of a tubercle; the clavicles are complete; ears short; limbs
nearly equal; no tail.
_GENUS LAGOMYS_.
Animals of small size and robust form; short-eared and tailless; two
premolars above and below.
NO. 418. LAGOMYS ROYLEI.
_Royle's Pika_ (_Jerdon's No. 210_).
NATIVE NAME.--_Rang-runt_, or _Rang-duni_, in Kunawur.--_Jerdon_.
HABITAT.--The Himalayan range, from Kashmir to Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--Rabbit grey or brown, with a yellowish-grey tinge,
more or less rufous on the head, neck, shoulder and sides of body;
a hairy brown muzzle, with pale under-lip; long whiskers, some white,
the posterior ones dark; under-parts white; fur soft and fine. The
upper lip is lobed as in the hare; ears elliptical, with rounded tops.
SIZE.--From 6 to 8 inches.
The first specimen was sent to England by Dr. Royle, in whose honour
Mr. Ogilby named it. It was obtained not far from Simla. It lives
in rocky ground or amongst loose stones in burrows, and is the
tailless rat described by Turner in his 'Journey to Thibet,' which
had perforated the banks of a lake by its holes.
NO. 419. LAGOMYS CURZONIAE.
_Curzon's Pika_.
HABITAT.--The higher ranges of the Himalayas, from 14,000 to 19,000
feet. It has been found northerly in Ladakh, and easterly in Sikim.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale buff above, tinged with rufous, the sides being
more rufescent; head, as far back as the ears, decidedly rufescent;
ears large and oval; sides of head and nose dirty fulvous white;
under-parts white, with a faint yellow tinge; limbs and soles of feet
white; whiskers, some black, some white; fur long, fine and silky.
SIZE.--About 7 inches to 8 inches.
NO. 420. LAGOMYS LADACENSIS.
_The Ladak Pika_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Zabra_, _Karin_, or _Phisekarin_, Ladakhi.
HABITAT.--High plateaux of Ladakh.
DESCRIPTION.--"General hue of the upper body pale buff, fulvous,
with a very slight rufous tint, and tipped with dark brown; below
whitish with translucent dusky blue."--_Stoliczka_, quoted by
Blanford.
SIZE.--From 7 inches to 9 inches.
It is as yet doubtful whether this is not identical with the last.
Mr. Blanford has separated it, and Dr. Gunther, agreeing with him,
named this species _L. Ladacensis_; but the skull characteristics
of _L. Curzoniae_ have not as yet been compared with this, and the
separation has been made on external characters only.
NO. 421. LAGOMYS AURITUS.
_The Large-eared Pika_.
HABITAT.--Lukong, on the Pankong lake.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour above smoky or wood brown; the head,
shoulders and rump rather paler and more rufous; lower parts whitish,
with the dark basal portion of the hair showing through; fur very
soft, moderately long; ears large, round, clothed rather thinly
inside near the margin with whitish-brown hairs, and outside with
much longer hairs of the same colour; whiskers fine and long, the
upper dark brown, the lower white; feet whitish. (_See_ Blanford's
'Sc. Res. Second Yarkand Mission,' p. 75, plate vi. fig. 2.)
SIZE.--About 8 inches.
NO. 422. LAGOMYS MACROTIS.
This seems to be a doubtful species; it may probably prove to be the
same as the last, the skulls being similar. Mr. Blanford remarks:
"I am strongly disposed to suspect, indeed, that _L. auritus_ is the
summer _L. macrotis_, the winter garb of the same species; but there
are one or two differences which require explanation. The feet appear
larger in _L. macrotis_, and the pads of the toes are black, whilst
in _L. auritus_ they are pale coloured. In the former the long hair
of the forehead is lead black at the base, in the latter, pale grey;
the feet and lower parts generally are white in _L. macrotis_, buffy
white in _L. auritus_, but this may be seasonable."
NO. 423. LAGOMYS GRISEUS.
_The Grey Pika_.
HABITAT.--Yarkand, Kuenlun range, south of Sunju pass.
DESCRIPTION.--General colour dull grey (almost Chinchilla colour),
with a slight rufescent tinge on the face and back; lower parts white;
fur very soft, about 0.9 inch long in the middle of the back; glossy
leaden black at the base and for about two-thirds of its length, very
pale ashy grey towards the end; the extreme tips of many hairs dark
brown, and on the back the tips of all the hairs are brownish; the
sides are almost pure light ashy; rump still paler; feet white; hair
on the face long, light brown on the forehead, greyer on the nose,
pure grey on the sides of the head. A few of the upper whiskers black,
the rest white; ears large round with rather thin white hairs inside,
very short hairs close to the margin, white outside, black inside,
outer surface covered with whitish hairs, which become long near the
base of the ear. (_See_ Blanford's 'Scientific Results, Second
Yarkand Mission,' p. 77, and plate vii. fig. 1.)
SIZE.-About 7 inches.
NO. 424. LAGOMYS RUFESCENS.
_The Red Pika_.
HABITAT.--Afghanistan, Persia.
DESCRIPTION.--Pale sandy red, darker on the top of the head, the
shoulders and fore part of back; two large patches behind the ears;
the feet and the under-parts are pale buff yellow; ears moderately
large, subovate and well clad, rusty yellow, paler on the under part;
whiskers very long, brown, a few brownish white; toe-pads blackish.
SIZE.-About 8 inches.
This species has been found in the rocky hills of Cabul. _Lagomys
Hodgsonii_, from Lahoul, Ladakh and Kulu, is considered to be the
same as the above, and _L. Nipalensis_, described by Waterhouse, as
synonymous with _L. Roylei_.
* * * * *
Under the systems of older naturalists the thick-skinned animals
were lumped together under the order UNGULATA, or _hoofed animals_,
subdivided by Cuvier into _Pachydermata_, or thick-skinned
non-ruminants, and _Ruminantia_, or ruminating animals; but neither
the elephant nor the coney can be called hoofed animals, and in other
respects they so entirely differ from the rest that recent
systematists have separated them into three distinct
orders--_Proboscidea_, _Hyracoidea_ and _Ungulata_, which
classification I here adopt.
ORDER PROBOSCIDEA.
It seems a strange jump from the order which contains the smallest
mammal, the little harvest mouse, to that which contains the gigantic
elephant--a step from the ridiculous to the sublime; yet there are
points of affinity between the little mouse and the giant tusker to
which I will allude further on, and which bring together these two
unequal links in the great chain of nature. The order Proboscidea,
or animals whose noses are prolonged into a flexible trunk, consists
of one genus containing two living species only--the Indian and
African Elephants. To this in the fossil world are added two more
genera--the _Mastodon_ and _Dinotherium_.
The elephant is one of the oldest known of animals. Frequent mention
is made in the Scriptures and ancient writings of the use of ivory.
In the First Book of Kings and the Second of Chronicles, it is
mentioned how Solomon's ships brought every three years from
Tarshish gold and silver and ivory (or elephants' teeth) apes and
peacocks. In the Apocrypha the animal itself, and its use in war,
is mentioned; in the old Sanscrit writings it frequently appears.
Aristotle and Pliny were firm believers in the superstition which
prevailed, even to more recent times, that it had no joints.
"The elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy;
His legs are for necessity, not flexure"--
says Shakespeare. Even down to the last century did this notion
prevail, so little did people know of this animal. The supposition
that he slept leaning against a tree is to be traced in Thomson's
'Seasons'--
"Or where the Ganges rolls his sacred waves
Leans the huge elephant."
Again, Montgomery says--
"Beneath the palm which he was wont to make
His prop in slumber."
At a very early period elephants were used in war, not only by the
Indian but the African nations. In the first Punic war (B.C. 264-241)
they were used considerably by the Carthaginians, and in the second
Punic war Hannibal carried thirty-seven of them across the Alps. In
the wars of the Moghuls they were used extensively. The domestication
of the African elephant has now entirely ceased; there is however
no reason why this noble animal should not be made as useful as its
Indian brother; it is a bigger animal, and as tractable, judging from
the specimens in menageries. It was trained in the time of the Romans
for performances in the arena, and swelled the pomp of military
triumphs, when, as Macaulay, I think, in his 'Lays of Ancient Rome,'
says, the people wondered at--
"The monstrous beast that had
A serpent for a hand."
It seems a cruel shame, when one comes to think of it, that thousands
of these noble animals should perish annually by all sorts of ignoble
means--pitfalls, hamstringing, poisoned arrows, and a few here and
there shot with more or less daring by adventurous sportsmen, only
for the sake of their magnificent tusks.
Few people think, as they leisurely cut open the pages of a new book
or play with their ivory-handled dessert-knives after dinner, of the
life that has once been the lot of that inanimate substance, so
beautiful in its texture, so prized from time immemorial; still less
do they think, for the majority do not know, of the enormous loss
of life entailed in purveying this luxury for the market. An elephant
is a long-lived beast; it is difficult to say what is the extent of
its individual existence; at fifty years it is in its prime, and its
reproduction is in ratio slower than animals of shorter life, yet
what countless herds must there be in Central Africa when we consider
that the annual requirements of Sheffield alone are reported to be
upwards of 46,000 tusks, which represent 23,000 elephants a year for
the commerce of one single city! The African elephant must be
decreasing, even as it has been extirpated in the north of that
continent, where it abounded in the time of the Carthaginians, and
the time may come when ivory shall be counted as one of the precious
things of the past. Even now the price is going up, and is nearly
double what it was a year ago. Now enhanced price means either greater
demand or deficient supply, and it is probably to this last we must
look for an answer to the question. True it is that if we want ivory
animals must be killed to get it, for the notion that some people
have gained from obsolete works on natural history, to the effect
that elephants shed their tusks, is an erroneous one. It is generally
supposed that elephants do not shed their tusks at all, not even
milk-teeth, but that they grow _ab initio_, as do the incisors of
rodents, from a persistent pulp, and continue growing through life.
Mr. G. P. Sanderson, the author of 'Thirteen Years among the Wild
Beasts,' whom I have to thank for much and valuable information about
the habits of these animals, assured me, when I spoke to him about
the popular idea of there being milk-tusks, that he had watched
elephants from their birth, and had never known them to shed their
tusks, nor had his mahouts ever found a shed tusk; but Mr. Tegetmeier
has pointed out that there are skulls in the museum of the Royal
College of Surgeons, showing both the milk and permanent tusks, the
latter pushing forward the former, which are absorbed to a great
extent, and leave nothing but a little blackened stump, the size of
one's finger. This was brought to my notice by a correspondent of
_The Asian_, "Smooth-bore," and I have lately had the pleasure of
meeting Mr. Tegetmeier, and speaking to him on the subject. There
is apparently no limit to the growth of tusks, so that under
favourable circumstances they might attain enormous dimensions,
owing to the age of the animal, and absence of the attrition which
keeps the incisors of rodents down. As in the case of rodents,
malformations of whose incisors I have alluded to some time back,
the tusks of elephants assume various freaks. I have heard of their
overlapping and crossing the trunk in a manner to impede the free
use of that organ. The tusks of fossil elephants are in many cases
gigantic. There is a head in the Indian Museum, of which the tusks
_outside the socket_ measure 9-3/4 feet, and are of very curious
formation. The two run parallel some distance, and then diverge,
which would lead one to suppose that the animal inhabited open
country, for such a formation would be extremely uncomfortable in
thick forest. That tusks of such magnitude are not found nowadays
is probably due to the fact that the elephant has more enemies, the
most formidable of all being man, which prevent his reaching the
great age of those of the fossil periods. It may be said, by those
who disbelieve in the extermination of this animal, that, as
elephants have provided ivory for several thousand years, they will
go on doing so; but I would remind them that in olden days ivory was
an article in limited demand, being used chiefly by kings and great
nobles; it is only of late years that it has increased more than a
hundredfold. Our forefathers used buck-horn handled knives, and they
were without the thousand-and-one little articles of luxury which
are now made of ivory; even the requirements of the ancient world
drove the elephant away from the coasts, where Solomon, and later
still the Romans, got their ivory; and now the girdle round the
remaining herds in Central Africa is being narrowed day by day. Mr.
Sanderson is of opinion that it is not decreasing in India under the
present restrictions, but there is no doubt the reckless slaughter
of them in Ceylon has greatly diminished their numbers. Sir Emerson
Tennent states that the Government reward was claimed for 3,500
destroyed in part of the northern provinces alone in three years
prior to 1848, and between 1851 and 1856, 2000 were killed in the
southern provinces.
_GENUS ELEPHAS--THE ELEPHANT_.
In the writings of older naturalists this animal, so singular in its
construction, will be found grouped with the horse, rhinoceros,
hippopotamus, tapir, coney, and pig, under the name of pachydermata,
the seventh order of Cuvier, but these are now more appropriately
divided, as I have said before, into three different orders--Proboscidea,
the elephants; Hyracoidea, the conies; and the rest come under Ungulata.
Apparently singular as is the elephant in its anatomy, it bears traces
of affinity to both Rodentia and Ungulata. The composition of its
massive tusks or incisors, and also of its grinders, resembles that of
the Rodents. The tusks grow from a persistent pulp, which forms new
ivory coated with enamel, but the grinders are composed of a number of
transverse perpendicular plates, or vertical laminae of dentine,
enveloped with enamel, cemented together by layers of a substance
called _cortical_. The enamel, by its superior hardness, is less liable
to attrition, and, standing above the rest, causes an uneven grinding
surface. Each of these plates is joined at the base of the tooth, and on
the grinding surface the pattern formed by them distinguishes at once
the Indian from the African elephant. In the former, the transverse
ridges are in narrow, undulating loops, but in the African they form
decided lozenges. These teeth, when worn out, are succeeded by others
pushing forward from behind, and not forced up vertically, as in the
case of ordinary deciduous teeth, so that it occasionally happens that
the elephant has sometimes one and sometimes two grinders on each side,
according to age. In the wild state sand and grit, entangled in the
roots of plants, help in the work of attrition, and, according to
Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, the tame animal, getting cleaner food, and
not having such wear and tear of teeth, gets a deformity by the piling
over of the plates of which the grinder is composed. An instance of
this has come under my notice. An elephant belonging to my
brother-in-law, Colonel W. B. Thomson, then Deputy Commissioner of
Seonee, suffered from an aggravated type of this malformation. He
was relieved by an ingenious mahout, who managed to saw off the
projecting portion of the tooth, which now forms a paper-weight. In
my account of Seonee I have given a detailed description of the mode
in which the operation was effected.
[Illustration: Side view of Grinders of Asiatic Elephant.]
[Illustration: Grinder of Asiatic Elephant.]
[Illustration: Grinder of African Elephant.]
[Illustration: Section of Elephant's Skull.]
The skull of the elephant possesses many striking features quite
different from any other animal. The brain in bulk does not greatly
exceed that of a man, therefore the rest of the enormous head is
formed of cellular bone, affording a large space for the attachment
of the powerful muscles of the trunk, and at the same time combining
lightness with strength. This cellular bone grows with the animal,
and is in great measure absent at birth. In the young elephant the
brain nearly fills the head, and the brain-case increases but little
in size during growth, but the cellular portion progresses rapidly
with the growth of the animal, and is piled up over the frontals for
a considerable height, giving the appearance of a bold forehead, the
brain remaining in a small space at the base of the skull, close to
its articulation with the neck. According to Professor Flower, the
cranial cavity is elongated and depressed, more so in the African
than the Indian elephant. The tentorial plane is nearly vertical,
so that the cerebellar fossa is altogether behind the cerebral fossa,
or, in plainer terms, the division between the big brain (cerebrum)
and the little one (cerebellum) is vertical, the two brains lying
on a level plane fore and aft instead of overlapping. The brain itself
is highly convoluted. The nasal aperture, or olfactory fossa, is very
large, and is placed a little below the brain-case. Few people who
are intimate with but the external form of the elephant would suppose
that the bump just above the root of the trunk, at which the hunter
takes aim for the "front shot," is really the seat of the organ of
smell, the channels of which run down the trunk to the orifice at
the end. The maxillo-turbinals, or twisted bony laminae within the
nasal aperture, which are to be found in most mammals, are but
rudimentary in the elephant--the elongated proboscis, according to
Professor Flower, probably supplying their place in warming the
inspired air. The premaxillary and maxillary bones are largely
developed, and contain the socket of the enormous tusks. The narial
aperture is thus pushed up, and is short, with an upward direction,
as in the Cetacea and Sirenia, with whom the Proboscidea have certain
affinities.
There are no lower incisors (except in a fossil species), and only
two of the molar teeth are to be seen on each side of the jaw at a
time, which are pushed out and replaced by others which grow from
behind. During the life-time of the animal, twenty-four of these
teeth are produced, six in each side of the upper and lower jaws.
The elephant has seven cervical vertebrae, the atlas much resembling
the human form; of the thoracic and lumbar vertebrae the number is
23, of which 19 or 20 bear ribs; the caudal vertebrae are 31, of a
simple character, without chevron bones.
The pelvis is peculiar in some points, such as the form of the ileum
and the arrangement of its surfaces, resembling the human pelvis.
The limbs in the skeleton of the elephant are disposed in a manner
differing from most other mammalia. The humerus is remarkable for
the great development of the supinator ridge. "The ulna and radius
are quite distinct and permanently crossed; the upper end of the
latter is small, while the ulna not only contributes the principal
part of the articular surface for the humerus, but has its lower end
actually larger than that of the radius--a condition almost unique
among mammals" (_Prof. Flower_).
On looking at the skeleton of the elephant, one of the first things
that strikes the student of comparative anatomy is the perpendicular
column of the limbs; in all other animals the bones composing these
supports are set at certain angles, by which a direct shock in the
action of galloping and leaping is avoided. Take the skeleton of a
horse, and you will observe that the scapula and humerus are set
almost at right angles to each other. It is so in most other animals,
but in the elephant, which requires great solidity and columnar
strength, it not being given to bounding about, and having enormous
bulk to be supported, the scapula, humerus, ulna and radius are all
almost in a perpendicular line. Owing to this rigid formation, the
elephant cannot spring. No greater hoax was ever perpetrated on the
public than that in one of our illustrated papers, which gave a
picture of an elephant hurdle-race. Mr. Sanderson, in his most
interesting book, says: "He is physically incapable of making the
smallest spring, either in vertical height or horizontal distance.
Thus a trench seven feet wide is impassable to an elephant, though
the step of a large one in full stride is about six and a half feet."
[Illustration: Skeleton of Elephant.]
The hind-limbs are also peculiarly formed, and bear some resemblance
to the arrangement of the human bones, and in these the same
perpendicular disposition is to be observed; the pelvis is set nearly
vertically to the vertebral column, and the femur and tibia are in
an almost direct line. The fibula, or small bone of the leg, which
is subject to great variation amongst animals (it being merely
rudimentary in the horse, for instance), is distinct in the elephant,
and is considerably enlarged at the lower end. The tarsal bones are
short, and the digits have the usual number of phalanges, the ungual
or nail-bearing ones being small and rounded.
[Illustration: A. Muscles of Elephant's Trunk. B. Cross-section of
ditto.]
I have thus briefly summarised the osteology of the elephant, as I
think the salient points on which I have touched would interest the
general reader; but, in now proceeding to the internal anatomy, I
shall restrict myself still more, referring only to certain matters
affecting externally visible peculiarities. The trunk of the
elephant differs somewhat from other nasal prolongations, such as
the snouts of certain insectivora, which are simply development of
the nasal cartilages. The nasal cartilages in the Proboscidea serve
merely as valves to the entrance of the bony nares, the trunk itself
being only a pipe or duct leading to them, composed of powerful
muscular and membranous tissue and consisting of two tubes,
separated by a septum. The muscles in front (_levatores
proboscidis_), starting from the frontal bone, run along a
semicircular line, arching upwards above the nasal bones and between
the orbits. They are met at the sides by the lateral longitudinal
muscles, which blend, and their fibres run the whole length of the
proboscis down to the extremity. The depressing muscles
(_depressores proboscidis_), or posterior longitudinals, arise from
the anterior surface and lower border of the premaxillaries, and form
"two layers of oblique fasciculi along the posterior surface of the
proboscis; the fibres of the superficial set are directed downwards
and outwards from the middle line. They do not reach the extremity
of the trunk, but disappear by curving over the sides a little above
the end of the organ. The fibres of the deeper set take the reverse
direction, and are attached to a distinct tendinous raphe along the
posterior median line" ('Anat. Ind. Elep.,' Miall and Greenwood).
These muscles form the outer sheath of other muscles, which radiate
from the nasal canals outwards, and which consist of numerous
distinct fasciculi. Then there are a set of transverse muscles in
two parts--one narrow, forming the septum or partition between the
nasal passages, and the other broader between the narrow part and
the posterior longitudinal muscles.
When we consider the bulk of these well-knit muscles we can no longer
wonder at the power of which this organ is capable, although,
according to Mr. Sanderson, its capabilities are much exaggerated;
and he explodes various popular delusions concerning it. He doubts
the possibility of the animal picking up a needle, the common old
story which I also disbelieve, having often seen the difficulty with
which a coin is picked up, or rather scraped up; but he quite scouts
the idea of an elephant being able to lift a heavy weight with his
trunk, giving an instance recorded of one of these creatures lifting
with his trunk the axle of a field-piece as the wheel was about to
pass over a fallen gunner, which he declares to be a physical
impossibility. Certainly the story has many elements of
improbability about it, and his comments on it are caustic and
amusing: _par exemple_, when he asks: "How did the elephant know that
a wheel going over the man would not be agreeable to him?" That is
the weak point in the story--but, however intelligent the animal
might be, Mr. Sanderson says it is physically impossible.
Another thing that strikes every one is the noiseless tread of this
huge beast. To describe the mechanism of the foot of the elephant
concisely and simply I am going to give a few extracts from the
observations of Professor W. Boyd Dawkins and Messrs. Oakley, Miall,
and Greenwood: "It stands on the ends of its five toes, each of which
is terminated by comparatively small hoofs, and the heel-bone is a
little distance from the ground. Beneath comes the wonderful cushion
composed, of membranes, fat, nerves, and blood-vessels, besides
muscles, which constitutes the sole of the foot" (_W. B. D. and H.
O._). "Of the foot as a whole--and this remark apples to both fore
and hind extremities--the separate mobility of the parts is greater
than would be suspected from an external inspection, and much greater
than in most Ungulates. The palmar and plantar soles, though thick
and tough, are not rigid boxes like hoofs, but may be made to bend
even by human fingers. The large development of muscles acting upon
the carpus and tarsus, and the separate existence of flexors and
extensors of individual digits, is further proof that the elephant's
foot is far from being a solid unalterable mass. There are, as has
been pointed out, tendinous or ligamentous attachments which
restrain the independent action of some of these muscles, but
anatomical examinations would lead us to suppose that the living
animal could at all events accurately direct any part of the
circumference of the foot by itself to the ground. The metacarpal
and metatarsal bones form a considerable angle with the surface of
the sole, while the digits, when supporting the weight of the body,
are nearly horizontal" (_M. and G._). This formation would naturally
give elasticity to the foot, and, with the soft cushion spoken of
by Professor Dawkins, would account for the noiselessness of the
elephant's tread. On one occasion a friend and myself marched our
elephant up to a sleeping tiger without disturbing the latter's
slumbers.
It is a curious fact that twice round an elephant's foot is his
height; it may be an inch one way or the other, but still sufficiently
near to take as an estimate.
Now we come to a third peculiarity in this interesting animal, and
that is the power of withdrawing water or a similar fluid from
apparently the stomach by the insertion of its trunk into the mouth,
which it sprinkles over its body when heated. The operation and the
_modus operandi_ are familiar to all who have made much use of
elephants, but the internal economy by which the water is supplied
is as yet a mystery to be solved, although various anatomists have
given the subject serious attention. It is generally supposed that
the receptacle for the liquid is the stomach, from the quantity that
is ejected. An elephant distressed by a long march in the heat of
the sun withdraws several quarts of water, but that it is water, and
not a secretion produced by salivatory glands, is not I think
sufficiently evident. In talking over the matter with Mr. Sanderson,
he informed me that an elephant that has drunk a short time before
taking an arduous march has a more plentiful supply of liquid at his
disposal. Therefore we might conclude that it is water which is
regurgitated, and in such quantity as to preclude the idea of its
being stored anywhere but in the stomach; but the question is, how
it is so stored there without assimulating with the food in the
process of digestion. Sir Emerson Tennent, in his popular and
well-known, but in some respects incorrect, account of the elephant,
has adopted the theory that the cardiac end of the stomach is the
receptacle for the water; and he figures a section of it showing a
number of transverse circular folds; and he accepts the conclusion
arrived at by Camper and Sir Everard Home that this portion can be
shut off as a water chamber by the action of the fold nearest to the
oesophagus; but these folds are too shallow to serve as water-cells,
and it has not been demonstrated that the broadest fold near the
oesophagus can be contracted to such an extent as to form a complete
diaphragm bisecting the stomach. Messrs. Miall and Greenwood say:
"The stomach is smooth, externally elongate, and nearly straight.
The cardiac end is much prolonged and tapering. A number of
transverse, nearly circular, folds project inwards from the cardiac
wall; they almost disappear when the stomach is greatly distended,
and are at all times too shallow to serve as water-cells, though they
have been figured and described as such."
That the stomach is the reservoir is, I think, open to doubt; but
there is no other possible receptacle as yet discovered, though I
shall allude to a supposed one presently, which would hold a moderate
supply of water, and further research in this direction is desirable.
Most of the dissections hitherto made have been of young and immature
specimens. Dr. Watson's investigations have thrown some light on the
way in which the water is withdrawn, which differs from Dr.
Harrison's conclusions, which are quoted by Sir Emerson Tennent. Dr.
Watson says regarding this power of withdrawal: "It is evident that
were the throat of this animal similar to that of other mammals, this
could not be accomplished, as the insertion of a body, such as the
trunk, so far into the pharynx as to enable the constrictor muscles
of that organ to grasp it, would at once give rise to a paroxysm of
coughing; or, were the trunk merely inserted into the mouth, it would
be requisite that this cavity be kept constantly filled with water,
at the same time that the lips closely encircled the inserted trunk.
The formation of the mouth of the elephant, however, is such as to
prevent the trunk ever being grasped by the lips so as effectually
to stop the entrance of air into the cavity, and thus at once, if
I may so express it, the pump action of the trunk is completely
paralysed. We find, therefore, that it is to some modification of
the throat that we must look for an explanation of the function in
question." He then goes on to explain minutely the anatomical details
of the apparatus of the throat, which I will endeavour to sketch as
simply, though clearly, as I can. The superior aperture of the
pharynx is extremely narrow, so much so as to admit, with difficulty,
the passage of a closed fist; but immediately behind this the pharynx
dilates into a large pouch capable of containing a certain quantity
of fluid--according to Dr. Watson a considerable quantity; but this
is open to question. Professor Miall states that in the young
specimen examined by him and Mr. Greenwood, a pint was the capacity
of the pouch. However, according to Dr. Watson, it is capable of
distention to a certain extent. The pouch is prolonged forward
beneath the root of the tongue, which forms the anterior boundary,
whilst the posterior wall is completed by depression of the soft
palate; when the latter is elevated the pouch communicates freely
with the oesophagus. I omit Dr. Watson's minute description of the
anatomy of this part in detail, which the reader who cares to study
the matter more deeply can find in his 'Contributions to the Anatomy
of the Indian Elephant,' 'Journal of Anatomy and Physiology,'
1871-74, but proceed to quote some of his deductions from the
observations made: "An elephant can," he says, "as the quotations
sufficiently prove, withdraw water from his stomach in two
ways--first, it may be regurgitated directly into the nasal passages
by the action of the diaphragm and abdominal muscles, the soft palate
being at the same time depressed, so as to prevent the passage of
water into the mouth. Having in this manner filled the large nasal
passages communicating with the trunk, the water contained in them
is then forced through the trunk by means of a powerful expiration;
or, in the second place, the water may be withdrawn from the cavity
of the mouth by means of the trunk inserted into it."
The second deduction is, I think, the more probable one. Before an
elephant spirts water over his body, he invariably puts his trunk
into his mouth for the liquid, whatever it may be. Messrs. Miall and
Greenwood are also against the former supposition, viz. that the
fluid is regurgitated into the nasal passages. They say: "We are
disposed to question the normal passage of water along this
highly-sensitive tract. Examination of the parts discovers no valve
or other provision for preventing water, flowing from behind forward,
from gaining free entrance into the olfactory recesses." Mr.
Sanderson, in discussing the habits of elephants with me, informed
me that, from his observations, he was sure that an elephant, in
drawing up water, did not fill more than fifteen to eighteen inches
of his trunk at a time, which confirms the opinion of the two
last-mentioned authors. Now we go on with Dr. Watson's second
deduction:--
"It is manifestly impossible that the water can be contained within
the cavity of the mouth itself, as I have already shown that the lips
in the elephant are so formed as effectually to prevent this. The
water regurgitated is, however, by means of the elevation of the soft
palate, forced into the pharyngeal pouch. The superior aperture of
this pouch being much narrower than the diameter of the pouch itself,
and being completely surrounded by the muscular fibres of the
stylo-glossus on each side, and the root of the tongue in front, which
is prolonged backwards so as to form a free sharp margin, we have
thus, as it were, a narrow aperture surrounded by a sphincter muscle,
into which the trunk being inserted, and grasped above its dilated
extremity by the sphincter arrangement just referred to, air is thus
effectually excluded; and, the nasal passages being then exhausted
by the act of inspiration, water is lodged within these passages,
to be used as the animal thinks fit, either by throwing it over his
body, or again returning it into his mouth."
This is doubtless a correct conclusion. The question still remaining
open is, What is the fluid--water or a secretion? If water, where
is it stowed in sufficient quantity? The testimony of several eminent
anatomists appears to be against stomach complications such as
before suggested. Dr. Anderson has told me that he had the
opportunity of examining the stomachs of two very large elephants,
which were perfectly simple, of enormous size; and he was astonished
at the extent of mucous surface. If water were drawn from such a
stomach, it would be more or less tainted with half-digested food,
besides which, when drunk, it would be rapidly absorbed by the mucous
surfaces. I think therefore that we may assume that these yield back
a very fluid secretion, which is regurgitated, as before suggested,
into the pharyngeal pouch, to be withdrawn as required. Sir Emerson
Tennent figures, on the authority of Dr. Harrison, a portion of the
trachea and oesophagus, connected by a muscle which he supposes
"might raise the cardiac orifice of the stomach, and so aid this organ
to regurgitate a portion of its contents into the oesophagus," but
neither Dr. Watson nor Messrs. Miall and Greenwood have found any
trace of this muscle.
* * * * *
Before proceeding to a detailed account of the Indian elephant, I
will cursorily sketch the difference between it and its African
brother.
The African elephant is of larger size as a rule, with enormously
developed ears, which quite overlap his withers. The forehead
recedes, and the trunk is more coarsely ringed; the tusks are larger,
some almost reaching the size of those mentioned above in the fossil
head at the museum. An old friend of mine, well known to all the
civilised--and a great portion of the uncivilised--world, Sir Samuel
Baker, had, and may still have, in his possession a tusk measuring
ten feet nine inches. This of course includes the portion within the
socket, whereas my measurement of the fossil is from the socket to
tip.
The lamination of the molar teeth also is very distinct in the two
species, as I have before stated--the African being in acute lozenges,
the Indian in wavy undulations.
Another point of divergence is, that the African elephant has only
three nails on the hind feet, whereas the Asiatic has four.
NO. 425. ELEPHAS INDICUS.
_The Indian or Asiatic Elephant_ (_Jerdon's No. 211_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Hasti_ or _Gaja_, Sanscrit; _Gaj_, Bengali; _Hati_,
Hindi; _Ani_ in Southern India, i.e. in Tamil, Telegu, Canarese, and
Malabari; _Feel_, Persian; _Allia_, Singhalese; _Gadjah_, Malayan;
_Shanh_, Burmese.
HABITAT.--India, in most of the large forests at the foot of the
Himalayas from Dehra Doon down to the Bhotan Terai; in the Garo hills,
Assam; in some parts of Central and Southern India; in Ceylon and
in Burmah, from thence extending further to Siam, Sumatra and Borneo.
DESCRIPTION.--Head oblong, with concave forehead; small ears as
compared with the African animal; small eyes, lighter colour, and
four instead of three nails on the hind foot; the laminations of the
molar teeth in wavy undulations instead of sharp lozenges, as in the
African, the tusks also being much smaller in the female, instead
of almost equal in both sexes.
SIZE.--The maximum height appears to be about 11 feet, in fact the
only authentic measurement we have at present is 10 feet 7 inches.
"The huge elephant, wisest of brutes,"
has had a good deal of the romance about it taken away by modern
observers. The staid appearance of the animal, with the intellectual
aspect contributed by the enormous cranial development, combined
with its undoubted docility and aptitude for comprehending signs,
have led to exaggerated ideas of its intelligence, which probably
does not exceed that of the horse, and is far inferior to that of
the dog. But from time immemorial it has been surrounded by a halo
of romance and exaggeration. Mr. Sanderson says, however, that the
natives of India never speak of it as an intelligent animal, "and
it does not figure in their ancient literature for its wisdom, as
do the fox, the crow, and the monkey;" but he overlooks the fact that
the Hindu god of wisdom, _Gunesh_, is always depicted with the body
of a man, but the head of an elephant. However this is apparently
an oversight, for both in his book and lecture he alludes to _Gunesh_.
The rest of his remarks are so good, and show so much practical
knowledge, that I shall take the liberty of quoting _in extenso_ from
a lecture delivered by him at Simla last year, a printed copy of which
he kindly sent me, and also from his interesting book, 'Thirteen
Years amongst the Wild Beasts.'
He says: "One of the strongest features in the domesticated
elephant's character is its obedience. It may also be readily taught,
as it has a large share of the ordinary cultivable intelligence
common in a greater or less degree to all animals. But its reasoning
faculties are undoubtedly far below those of the dog, and possibly
of other animals; and in matters beyond the range of its daily
experience it evinces no special discernment. Whilst quick at
comprehending anything sought to be taught to it, the elephant is
decidedly wanting in originality."
I think one as often sees instances of decided stupidity on the part
of elephants as of sagacity, but I think the amount of intelligence
varies in individuals. I have known cases where elephants have tried
to get their mahouts off their backs--two cases in my own
district--in the one the elephant tried shaking and then lying down,
both of which proved ineffectual; in the other it tried tearing off
the rafters of a hut and throwing them over its back, and finally
rubbing against low branches of trees, which proved successful. The
second elephant, I think, showed the greatest amount of original
thought; but there is no doubt the sagacity of the animal has been
greatly overrated. I quote again from Mr. Sanderson, whose remarks
are greatly to the point:--
"What an improbable story is that of the elephant and the tailor,
wherein the animal, on being pricked with a needle instead of being
fed with sweetmeats as usual, is represented as having deliberately
gone to a pond, filled its trunk with dirty water, and returned and
squirted it over the tailor and his work! This story accredits the
elephant with appreciating the fact that throwing dirty water over
his work would be the peculiar manner in which to annoy a tailor.
How has he acquired the knowledge of the incongruity of the two things,
dirty water and clean linen? He delights in water himself, and would
therefore be unlikely to imagine it objectionable to another. If the
elephant were possessed of the amount of discernment with which he
is commonly credited, is it reasonable to suppose that he would
continue to labour for man instead of turning into the nearest
jungle? The elephant displays less intelligence in its natural state
than most wild animals. Whole herds are driven into ill-concealed
inclosures which no other forest creatures could be got to enter;
and single ones are caught by being bound to trees by men under cover
of a couple of tame elephants, the wild one being ignorant of what
is going on until he finds himself secured. Escaped elephants are
re-taken without trouble; even experience does not bring them wisdom.
Though possessed of a proboscis which is capable of guarding it
against such dangers, the wild elephant readily falls into pits dug
in its path, whilst its fellows flee in terror, making no effort to
assist the fallen one, as they might easily do by kicking in the earth
around the pit. It commonly happens that a young elephant falls into
a pit, in which case the mother will remain until the hunters come,
without doing anything to assist her offspring--not even feeding it
by throwing in a few branches.
"When a half-trained elephant of recent capture happens to get loose,
and the approach of its keeper on foot might cause it to move off,
or perhaps even to run away altogether, the mahout calls to his
elephant from a distance to kneel, and he then approaches and mounts
it. The instinct of obedience is herein shown to be stronger than
the animal's intelligence. When a herd of wild elephants is secured
within a stockade, or _kheddah_, the mahouts ride trained elephants
amongst the wild ones without fear, though any one of the wild ones
might, by a movement of its trunk, dislodge the man. This they never
do."
On the other hand we do hear of wonderful cases of reasoning on the
part of these creatures. I have never seen anything very
extraordinary myself; but I had one elephant which almost invariably
attempted to get loose at night, and often succeeded, if we were
encamped in the vicinity of sugar-cane cultivation--nothing else
tempted her; and many a rupee have I had to pay for the damage done.
This elephant knew me perfectly after an absence of eighteen months,
trumpeted when she saw me, and purred as I came up and stroked her
trunk. I then gave her the old sign, and in a moment she lifted me
by the trunk on to her head. I never mounted her any other way, and,
as I used to slip off by a side rope, the constant kneeling down and
getting up was avoided.
Sir Emerson Tennent says: "When free in its native woods the elephant
evinces rather simplicity than sagacity, and its intelligence seldom
exhibits itself in cunning;" yet in the next page he goes on to relate
a story told to him of a wild elephant when captured falling down,
and feigning to be dead so successfully that all the fastenings were
taken off; "while this was being done he and a gentleman by whom he
was accompanied leaned against the body to rest. They had scarcely
taken their departure and proceeded a few yards when, to their
astonishment, the elephant arose with the utmost alacrity, and fled
towards the jungles screaming at the top of its voice, its cries being
audible long after it had disappeared in the shades of the forest."
If this be correct it shows a considerable amount of cunning.
Both Mr. Sanderson and Sir Emerson Tennent agree on the subject of
the rarity of the remains of dead elephants. I have never been in
real elephant country; the tracks of such as I have come across have
been merely single wanderers from the Bilaspore herds, or probably
elephants escaped from captivity. Forsyth once came upon the bones
of a small herd of five that had been driven over a precipice from
the summit of a hill, on which there was a Hindoo shrine, by the drums
and music of a religious procession.
The following taken from Mr. Sanderson's lecture is interesting as
regards the constitution of the herds: "Herds of elephants usually
consist of from thirty to fifty individuals, but much larger numbers,
even upwards of a hundred, are by no means uncommon. A herd is always
led by a female, never by a male. In localities where fodder is scarce
a large herd usually divides into parties of from ten to twenty. These
remain at some little distance from each other, but all take part
in any common movement, such as a march into another tract of forest.
These separate parties are family groups, consisting of old
elephants with their children and grandchildren. It thus happens
that, though the gregarious instincts of elephants prompt them to
form large gatherings, if circumstances necessitate it a herd breaks
up under several leaders. Cases frequently occur when they are being
hunted; each party will then take measures for its individual safety.
It cannot be said that a large herd has any _supreme_ leader. Tuskers
never interest themselves in the movement of their herds; they wander
much alone, either to visit cultivation, where the females,
encumbered with young ones, hesitate to follow, or from a love of
solitude. Single elephants found wandering in the forests are
usually young males--animals debarred from much intimate
association with the herds by stronger rivals; but they usually keep
within a few miles of their companions. These wandering tuskers are
only biding their time until they are able to meet all comers in a
herd. The necessity for the females regulating the movements of a
herd is evident, as they must accommodate the length and time of their
marches, and the localities in which they rest and feed at different
hours, to the requirements of their young ones."
It is a curious fact that most of the male elephants in Ceylon are
what are called _mucknas_ in India, that is, tuskless males--not one
in a hundred, according to Sir Emerson Tennent, being found with
tusks; nearly all, however, are provided with tushes. These, he says,
he has observed them "to use in loosening earth, stripping off bark,
and snapping asunder small branches and climbing plants, and hence
tushes are seldom seen without a groove worn into them near their
extremities." Sir Samuel Baker says that the African elephant uses
his tusks in ploughing up ground in search of edible roots, and that
whole acres may be seen thus ploughed, but I have never seen any use
to which the Indian elephant puts his tusks in feeding. I have often
watched mine peeling the bark off succulent branches, and the trunk
and foot were alone used. Mr. Sanderson, in his 'Thirteen Years,'
remarks: "Tusks are not used to assist the elephant in procuring
food;" but he says they are formidable weapons of offence in the
tusker, the biggest of whom lords it over his inferiors.
The elephant usually brings forth, after a period of gestation of
from eighteen to twenty-two months, a single calf, though twins are
occasionally born. Mr. Sanderson says: "Elephant calves usually
stand exactly thirty-six inches at the shoulder when born, and weigh
about 200 lbs. They live entirely upon milk for five or six months,
when they begin to eat tender grass. Their chief support, however,
is still milk for some months. I have known three cases of elephants
having two calves at a birth. It cannot be said that the female
elephant evinces any special attachment to her offspring, whilst the
belief that all the females of a herd show affection for each other's
calves is certainly erroneous. During the catching of elephants many
cases occur in which young ones, after losing their mothers by death
or separation, are refused assistance by the other females, and are
buffeted about as outcasts. I have only known one instance of a very
gentle, motherly elephant in captivity, allowing a motherless calf
to suck along with her own young one. When a calf is born the mother
and the herd usually remain in that place for two days. The calf is
then capable of marching. Even at this tender age calves are no
encumbrance to the herd's movement; the youngest climb hills and
cross rivers, assisted by their dams. In swimming, very young calves
are supported by their mothers' trunks, and are held in front of them.
When they are a few months old they scramble on to their mother's
shoulders, and hold on with their fore-legs, or they swim alone.
Though a few calves are born at other seasons, the largest number
make their appearance about September, October, and November."
Until I read the above I, from my limited experience, had come to
the conclusion that elephant mothers are very fussy and jealous of
other females. (See Appendix C, p. 527.)
I have only once seen an elephant born in captivity, and that was
in 1859, when I was in charge of the Sasseram Levy on the Grand Trunk
road. Not far from the lines of my men was an elephant camp; they
were mostly Burmese animals, and many of them died; but one little
fellow made his appearance one fine morning, and was an object of
great interest to us all. On one occasion, some years after, I went
out after a tiger on a female elephant which had a very young calf.
I repented it after a while, for I lost my tiger and my temper, and
very nearly my life. Those who have read 'Seonee,' may remember the
ludicrous scene in which I made the doctor figure as the hero. An
elephant is full grown at twenty-five, though not in his prime till
some years after. Forty years is what mahouts, I think, consider age,
but the best elephants live up to one hundred years or even more.[29]
[Footnote 29: See note in Appendix C on this subject.]
_A propos_ of my remarks, in the introductory portion of this paper
on Proboscidea, regarding the probable gradual extinction of the
African elephant, the following reassuring paragraphs from the
lecture I have so extensively quoted will prove interesting and
satisfactory. Mr. Sanderson has previously alluded to the common
belief, strengthened by actual facts in Ceylon, that the elephant
was gradually being exterminated in India; but this is not the case,
especially since the laws for their protection have come into force:
"The elephant-catching records of the past fifty years attest the
fact that there is no diminution in the numbers now obtainable in
Bengal, whilst in Southern India elephants have become so numerous
of late years that they are annually appearing where they had never
been heard of before."
He then instances the Billigarungun hills, an isolated range of three
hundred square miles on the borders of Mysore, where wild elephants
first made their appearance about eighty years ago, the country
having relapsed from cultivation into a wilderness owing to the
decimation of the inhabitants by three successive visitations of
small-pox. He adds: "The strict preservation of wild elephants seems
only advantageous or desirable in conjunction with corresponding
measures for keeping their numbers within bounds by capture. It is
to be presumed that elephants are preserved with a view to their
utilisation. With its jungles filled with elephants, the anomalous
state of things by which Government, when obliged to go into the
market, finds them barely procurable, and then only at prices double
those of twenty, and quadruple those of forty years ago, will I trust
be considered worthy of inquiry. Whilst it is necessary to maintain
stringent restrictions on the wasteful and cruel native modes of
hunting, it will I believe be found advantageous to allow lessees
every facility for hunting under conditions that shall insure humane
management of their captives. I believe that the price of elephants
might be reduced one-half in a year or two by such measures. The most
ordinary elephant cannot be bought at present for less than Rs. 2,000.
Unless something be done, it is certain that the rifle will have to
be called into requisition to protect the ryots of tracts bordering
upon elephant jungles. To give an idea of the numbers of wild
elephants in some parts of India, I may say that during the past three
years 503 elephants have been captured by the Dacca kheddah
establishment, in a tract of country forty miles long by twenty broad,
in the Garo hills, whilst not less than one thousand more were met
with during the hunting operations. Of course these elephants do not
confine themselves to that tract alone, but wander into other parts
of the hills. There are immense tracts of country in India similarly
well stocked with wild elephants.
"I am sure it will be regarded as a matter for hearty congratulation
by all who are interested in so fine and harmless an animal as is
the elephant that there is no danger of its becoming extinct in India.
Though small portions of its haunts have been cleared for tea or
coffee cultivation, the present forest area of this country will
probably never be practically reduced, for reasons connected with
the timber supply and climate of the country; and as long as its
haunts remain the elephant must flourish under due regulations for
its protection."
Elephants are caught in various ways. The pitfall is now prohibited,
so also is the Assam plan of inclosing a herd in a salt lick. Noosing
and driving into a _kheddah_ or inclosure are now the only legitimate
means of capture. The process is too long for description here, but
I may conclude this article, which owes so much to Mr. Sanderson's
careful observations, with the following interesting account of the
mode in which the newly-caught elephant is taught to obey:--
"New elephants are trained as follows: they are first tied between
two trees, and are rubbed down by a number of men with long bamboos,
to an accompaniment of the most extravagant eulogies of the animal,
sung and shouted at it at the top of their voices. The animal of course
lashes out furiously at first; but in a few days it ceases to act
on the offensive, or, as the native say, 'shurum lugta hai'--'it
becomes ashamed of itself,' and it then stands with its trunk curled,
shrinking from the men. Ropes are now tied round its body, and it
is mounted at its picket for several days. It is then taken out for
exercise, secured between two tame elephants. The ropes still remain
round its body to enable the mahout to hold on should the elephant
try to shake him off. A man precedes it with a spear to teach it to
halt when ordered to do so; whilst, as the tame elephants wheel to
the right or left, the mahout presses its neck with his knees, and
taps it on the head with a small stick, to train it to turn in the
required direction. To teach an elephant to kneel it is taken into
water about five feet deep when the sun is hot, and, upon being
pricked on the back with a pointed stick it soon lies down, partly
to avoid the pain, partly from inclination for a bath. By taking it
into shallower water daily, it is soon taught to kneel even on land.
"Elephants are taught to pick up anything from the ground by a rope,
with a piece of wood attached, being dangled over their foreheads,
near to the ground. The wood strikes against their trunk and
fore-feet, and to avoid the discomfort the elephant soon takes it
in its trunk, and carries it. It eventually learns to do this without
a rope being attached to the object."
Sir Emerson Tennent's account of the practice in Ceylon is similar.
As regards the size of elephants few people agree. The controversy
is as strong on this point as on the maximum size of tigers. I quite
believe few elephants attain to or exceed ten feet, still there are
one or two recorded instances, the most trustworthy of which is Mr.
Sanderson's measurement of the Sirmoor Rajah's elephant, which is
10 ft. 7-1/2 in. at the shoulder--a truly enormous animal. I have
heard of a tusker at Hyderabad that is over eleven feet, but we must
hold this open to doubt till an accurate measurement, for which I
have applied, is received. Elephants should be measured like a horse,
with a standard and cross bar, and not by means of a piece of string
over the rounded muscles of the shoulder. Kellaart, usually a most
accurate observer, mentions in his 'Prodromus Faunae Zeylanicae' his
having measured a Ceylon elephant nearly twelve feet high, but does
not say how it was done. Sir Joseph Fayrer has a photograph of an
enormous elephant belonging to the late Sir Jung Bahadur, a perfect
mountain of flesh.
* * * * *
We in India have nothing to do with the next order, HYRACOIDEA or
Conies, which are small animals, somewhat resembling short-eared
rabbits, but which from their dentition and skeleton are allied to
the rhinoceros and tapir. The Syrian coney is frequently mentioned
in the Old Testament, and was one of the animals prohibited for food
to the Jews, "because he cheweth the cud and divideth not the hoof."
The chewing of the cud was a mistake, for the coney does not do so,
but it has a way of moving its jaws which might lead to the idea that
it ruminates. In other parts of Scripture the habits of the animal
are more accurately depicted--"The rocks are a refuge for the
conies;" and again: "The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they
their houses in the rocks." Solomon says in the Proverbs: "There be
four things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding
wise." These are the ants, for they prepare their meat in summer,
as we see here in India the stores laid up by the large black ant
(_Atta providens_); the conies for the reason above given; the
locusts, which have no king, yet go forth by bands; and the spider,
which maketh her home in kings' palaces.
ORDER UNGULATA.
These are animals which possess hoofs; and are divided into two
sub-orders--those that have an odd number of toes on the hind-foot,
such as the horse, tapir, and rhinoceros, being termed the
PERISSODACTYLA; and the others, with an even number of toes, such
as the pig, sheep, ox, deer, &c., the ARTIODACTYLA; both words being
taken from the Greek _perissos_ and _artios_, uneven or overmuch,
and even; and _daktulos_, a finger or toe. We begin with the
uneven-toed group.
SUB-ORDER PERISSODACTYLA.
This consists of three living and two extinct families--the living
ones being horses, tapirs, and rhinoceroses, and the extinct the
_Paleotheridae_ and the _Macrauchenidae_. I quote from Professor
Boyd Dawkins and Mr. H. W. Oakley the following brief yet clear
description of the characteristics of this sub-order:--
"In all the animals belonging to the group the number of dorso-lumbar
vertebrae is not fewer than twenty-two; the third or middle digit
of each foot is symmetrical; the femur or thigh-bone has a third
trochanter, or knob of bone, on the outer side; and the two facets
on the front of the astragalus or ankle-bone are very unequal. When
the head is provided with horns they are skin deep only, without a
core of bone, and they are always placed in the middle line of the
skull, as in the rhinoceros.
"In the _Perissodactyla_ the number of toes is reduced to a minimum.
Supposing, for example, we compare the foot of a horse with one of
our own hands, we shall see that those parts which correspond with
the thumb and little finger are altogether absent, while that which
corresponds with the middle finger is largely developed, and with
its hoof, the equivalent to our nail, constitutes the whole foot.
The small splint bones, however, resting behind the principal bone
of the foot represent those portions (metacarpals) of the second and
third digits which extend from the wrist to the fingers properly
so-called, and are to be viewed as traces of a foot composed of three
toes in an ancestral form of the horse, which we shall discuss
presently. In the tapir the hind foot is composed of three
well-developed toes, corresponding to the first three toes in man,
and in the rhinoceros both feet are provided with three toes, formed
of the same three digits. In the extinct _Paleotherium_ also the foot
is constituted very much as in the rhinoceros."
FAMILY EQUIDAE--THE HORSE.
This family consists of the true horses and the asses, which latter
also include the zebra and quagga. Apart from the decided external
differences between the horse and ass, they have one marked
divergence, viz. that the horse has corns or callosities on the inner
side of both fore and hind limbs, whilst the asses have them only
on the fore limbs; but this is a very trifling difference, and how
closely the two animals are allied is proved by the facility with
which they interbreed. It is, therefore, proper to include them both
in one genus, although Dr. Gray has made a separation, calling the
latter _Asinus_, and Hamilton Smith proposed _Hippotigris_ as a
generic name for the zebras.
[Illustration: Dentition of Horse.]
We have no wild horse in India; in fact there are no truly wild horses
in the world as far as we know. The tarpan or wild horse of Tartary,
and the mustang of South America, though _de facto_ wild horses, are
supposed to be descended from domesticated forms. In Australia too
horses sometimes grow wild from being left long in the bush. These
are known as _brumbies_, and are generally shot by the stock farmer,
as they are of deteriorated quality, and by enticing away his mares
spoil his more carefully selected breeds. According to Mr. Anthony
Trollope they are marvels of ugliness.
The Indian species of this genus are properly asses; there are two
kinds, although it has been asserted by many--and some of them good
naturalists, such as Blyth--that the _Kiang_ of Thibet and the
_Ghor-khur_ of Sind and Baluchistan are the same animal.
_GENUS EQUUS_.
Incisors, 6/6; canines, 1--1/1--1; molars, 6--6/6--6; these last are
complex, with square crowns marked by wavy folds of enamel. The
incisors are grooved, and are composed of folds of enamel and cement,
aptly described by Professor Boyd Dawkins and Mr. Oakley as being
folded in from the top, after the manner of the finger of a glove
the top of which has been pulled in. The marks left by the attrition
of the surface give an approximate idea of the age of the animal.
The stomach is simple--the intestinal canal very long and caecum
enormous.
NO. 426. EQUUS ONAGER.
_The Wild Ass of Kutch_ (_Jerdon's No. 214_).
NATIVE NAMES.--_Ghor-khur_, Hindi; _Ghour_, or _Kherdecht_,
Persian; _Koulan_ of the Kirghiz.
HABITAT.--Sind, Baluchistan, Persia.
[Illustration: _Equus onager_.]
DESCRIPTION.--Pale sandy colour above, with a slight rufescent
tinge; muzzle, breast, lower parts and inside of limbs white; a dark
chocolate brown dorsal stripe from mane to tail, with a cross on the
shoulder, sometimes a double one; and the legs are also occasionally
barred. The mane and tail-tuft are dark brown or black; a narrow dark
band over the hoof; ears longish, white inside, concolorous with the
body outside, the tip and outer border blackish; head heavy; neck
short; croup higher than the withers.
SIZE.--Height about 11 to 12 hands.
The following account I extract from Jerdon's 'Mammals of India,'
p. 238, which epitomises much of what has been written on the
subject:--
"The _ghor-khur_ is found sparingly in Cutch, Guzerat, Jeysulmeer
and Bikaneer, not being found further south, it is said, than Deesa,
or east of 75 degrees east longitude. It also occurs in Sind, and
more abundantly west of the Indus river, in Baluchistan, extending
into Persia and Turkestan, as far north as north latitude 48 degrees.
It appears that the Bikaneer herd consists at most of about 150
individuals, which frequent an oasis a little elevated above the
surrounding desert, and commanding an extensive view around. A
writer in the _Indian Sporting Review_, writing of this species as
it occurs in the Pat, a desert country between Asnee and the hills
west of the Indus, above Mithunkote, says: 'They are to be found
wandering pretty well throughout the year; but in the early summer,
when the grass and the water in the pools have dried up from the hot
winds (which are here terrific), the greater number, if not all, of
the _ghor-khurs_ migrate to the hills for grass and water. The
foaling season is in June, July, and August, when the Beluchis ride
down and catch numbers of foals, finding a ready sale in the
cantonments for them, as they are taken down on speculation to
Hindustan. They also shoot great numbers of full-grown ones for food,
the ground in places in the desert being very favourable for
stalking.' In Bikaneer too, according to information given by Major
Tytler to Mr. Blyth: 'Once only in the year, when the foals are young,
a party of five or six native hunters, mounted on hardy Sindh mares,
chase down as many foals as they succeed in tiring, which lie down
when utterly fatigued, and suffer themselves to be bound and carried
off. In general they refuse sustenance at first, and about one-third
only of those taken are reared; but these command high prices, and
find a ready sale with the native princes. The profits are shared
by the party, who do not attempt a second chase in the same year,
lest they should scare the herd from the district, as these men regard
the sale of a few ghor-khurs annually as a regular source of
subsistence.'
"This wild ass is very shy and difficult to approach, and has great
speed. A full-grown one has, however, been run down fairly and
speared more than once."
I remember we had a pair of these asses in the Zoological Gardens
at Lahore in 1868; they were to a certain extent tame, but very
skittish, and would whinny and kick on being approached. I never
heard of their being mounted.
It is closely allied to, if not identical with, the wild ass of
Assyria (_Equus hemippus_). The Hon. Charles Murray, who presented
one of the pair in the London Zoological Gardens in 1862, wrote the
following account of it to Dr. Sclater: "The ghour or kherdecht of
the Persians is doubtless the onager of the ancients. Your specimen
was caught when a foal on the range of mountains which stretch from
Kermanshah on the west in a south-easterly direction to Shiraz; these
are inhabited by several wild and half-independent tribes, the most
powerful of which are the Buchtzari. The ghour is a remarkably fleet
animal, and moreover so shy and enduring that he can rarely be
overtaken by the best mounted horsemen in Persia. For this reason
they chase them now, as they did in the time of Xenophon, by placing
relays of horsemen at intervals of eight or ten miles. These relays
take up the chase successively and tire down the ghour. The flesh
of the ghour is esteemed a great delicacy, not being held unclean
by the Moslem, as it was in the Mosaic code. I do not know whether
this species is ever known to bray like the ordinary domestic ass.
Your animal, whilst under my care, used to emit short squeaks and
sometimes snorts not unlike those of a deer, but she was so young
at the time that her voice may not have acquired its mature
intonation."
NO. 427. EQUUS HEMIONUS.
_The Kiang or Wild Ass of Thibet_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Kiang_ or _Dizightai_, Thibetan.
HABITAT.--Thibet and Central Asia; Ladakh.
DESCRIPTION.--Darker in hue than the _ghor-khur_, especially on the
flanks, contrasting abruptly with the white of the under-parts. It
has the dark line along the back, but not the cross band on the
shoulder; ears shorter.
SIZE.--About 12 to 14 hands in height.
From its larger size, shorter ears, and its shrill bray, which has
been mistaken for a neigh, this animal has at times been taken for
a horse, and described as such. The kiang, of which there is a living
specimen in the London Zoological Gardens, inhabits the high
plateaux of Thibet, ranging up to fifteen and sixteen thousand feet
above the sea level. It is very swift and wary.
The late Brigadier-General McMaster, in his 'Notes on Jerdon,' page
248, says: "An excellent sportsman and very close observer, who,
being a cavalry officer, should be able to give a sound opinion on
the matter, assured me that the voice of the wild horse of the snowy
Himalayas is 'an unmistakeable _neigh, not a bray_,' and that he
certainly looked on them as horses. He had seen several of these
animals, and killed one." Captain (now General) R. Strachey wrote
of it: "My impression as to the voice of the _kyang_ is that it is
a shrieking bray and not a neigh;" and again: "the _kyang_, so far
as external aspect is concerned, is obviously an ass and not an
horse." Of this there is but little doubt. Moorcroft, in his travels,
vol. i. p. 312, states: "In the eastern parts of Ladakh is a
nondescript wild variety of horse which I may call _Equus kiang_.
It is perhaps more of an ass than a horse, but its ears are shorter,
and it is certainly not the gur-khor or wild ass of Sind." Further
on, at page 442, he-adds: "We saw many herds of the kyang, and I made
numerous attempts to bring one down, but with invariably bad success.
Some were wounded, but not sufficiently to check their speed, and
they quickly bounded up the rocks, where it was impossible to follow.
They would afford excellent sport to four or five men well mounted,
but a single individual has no chance. The kyang allows his pursuer
to approach no nearer than five or six hundred yards; he then trots
off, turns, looks and waits till you are almost within distance, when
he is off again. If fired at he is frightened, and scampers off
altogether. The Chanthan people sometimes catch them by
snares--sometimes shoot them. From all I have seen of the animal I
should pronounce him to be neither a horse nor an ass. His shape is
as much like that of the one as the other, but his cry is more like
braying than neighing. The prevailing colour is a light
reddish-chestnut, but the nose, the under-part of the jaw and neck,
the belly and the legs are white, the mane is dun and erect, the ears
are moderately long, the tail bare and reaching a little below the
hock. The height is about fourteen hands. The form, from the fore
to the hind leg and feet to a level with the back is more square than
that of an ass. His back is less straight, and there is a dip behind
the withers and a rounding of the crupper which is more like the shape
of the horse; his neck also is more erect and arched than that of
the ass. He is perhaps more allied to the quagga, but without stripes,
except a reported one along each side of the back to the tail. These
were seen distinctly in a foal, but were not distinguished in the
adults."
FAMILY TAPIRIDAE--THE TAPIRS.
These are somewhat hog-like animals, with elongated snouts,
possessing four toes on their fore-feet, and three on the hinder ones.
They live in dense forests, are nocturnal in habit, and live
exclusively on a vegetable diet. The Indian tapir has a more powerful
and extensile trunk than the American, and its skull shows in
consequence a greater space for the attachment of the muscles. The
dentition is as follows:--Inc., 3--3/3--3; can., 1--1/1--1;
premolars, 4--4/4--4; molars, 3--3/3--3. The outer incisors
somewhat resemble canines, whilst the others are very small. The
canines themselves are not large.
[Illustration: Dentition of Tapir.]
The tapir is not found in India proper, but the Malayan species is
occasionally to be come across in Burmah, having been killed in
Tenasserim.
_GENUS TAPIRUS_.
NO. 428. TAPIRUS MALAYANUS.
_The Malay Tapir_.
NATIVE NAMES.--_Ta-ra-shu_, Burmese; _Kuda-ayer_, Malayan;
_Sala-dang_ of the Limuns in Sumatra; _Gindol_ of the Mannas in
Sumatra; _Babi-alu_ in Bencoolen; _Tennu_ in Malacca.
HABITAT.--Tenasserim provinces, as high as the fifteenth degree
north latitude; Lower Siam; the Malayan peninsula; Sumatra and
Borneo.
[Illustration: _Tapirus Malayanus_.]
DESCRIPTION.--General colour glossy black, but with the back, rump,
and sides of the belly white. The young are beautifully variegated,
being striped and spotted with yellow fawn on the upper parts of the
body, and with white below.
Mr. Mason writes: "Though seen so rarely, the tapir is by no means
uncommon in the interior of the Tavoy and Mergui provinces. I have
frequently come upon its recent footmarks, but it avoids the
inhabited parts of the country. It has never been heard of north of
the valley of the Tavoy river."
The tapir is naturally all the world over a very shy, retiring animal,
but it is capable of being tamed when taken young, and of showing
great attachment.
FAMILY RHINOCEROTIDAE.
"The skeleton of the rhinoceros viewed generally has a resemblance
to that of the little hyrax, the tapir, and the horse. The skull is
very much elevated at the base, being somewhat of a pyramidal form,
and the nasal bones curve upwards and downwards, and are of such a
size and thickness, in order to support one or more immense horns,
that they are quite unparalleled for their development in any other
existing quadruped. The nasal bones, together with the premaxillary
and maxillary bones, form the general contour for the external
apertures of the nostrils. This is peculiar, and found in no other
animal with the exception of the tapir."--_Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins and
Mr. Oakley_.
The external appearance of this animal is familiar to most--a large
ungainly creature, with a long head, a massive horn on its nose,
sometimes two horns; a round unwieldly body covered with an immensely
thick hide arranged in heavy folds; short tail and short legs, with
three toes covered with broad nails or hoofs.
The stomach is simple; the intestines about eight times the length
of the body, and the caecum is large and sacculated. The horn is a
mere agglutinated mass of hair or fibre superimposed on the skin,
and has no bony core. The females have two inguinal mammae.
The dentition is peculiar; "the grinders are implanted by distinct
roots, and in the upper jaw their crowns are traversed by two deep
folds of enamel which constitute open valleys. In the lower jaw they
are composed of two crescent-shaped lobes, also open. The covering
of cement is thin, and never fills up the valleys, as in the case
of the more complex dental system in the horse. The normal number
of grinders is seven in each jaw, while the incisors, as we have
already remarked, vary not only in form but also are sometimes absent,
and canines are not developed in any of the living or fossil members
of the family."--_Boyd Dawkins and Oakley_.
The Rhinocerotidae are divided into two groups--the Asiatic and the
African; and the former consist of two genera--RHINOCEROS and
CERATORHINUS, the former with one and the latter with two horns.