AFRICAN RESEARCHES. 411 



certainly for the Jirst time introduced to the notice of natu- 

 ralists, in size and form resembling the rhinoceros, but differ- 

 ing so essentially from that genus, that we can hardly suppose 

 it to belong to the same group. The younger it is the long- 

 er its horns, and these organs are consequently fully deve- 

 loped at the period of birth. In the rhinoceros, the horns are 

 so firmly attached to the bones of the cranium, that in the 

 adult animal it is a good half hour's work for a man with an 

 axe to cut them from the skull. In this mammal, which Sir 

 James erroneously calls a rhinoceros, the horns, it appears, 

 are moveable, and he supposes them to be simply attached to 

 the skin, but since their erection as defensive weapons would 

 require the operation of powerful muscles, they must neces- 

 sarily be more deeply implanted than he imagines. 



In our notice of the Report of the expedition for exploring 

 Central Africa, under Dr. Andrew Smith, 1 we had occasion 

 to quote a passage in which this enterprising explorer and 

 talented zoologist looks forward to the time when mind and 

 matter shall alike proclaim the truth of Mr. Swainson's doc- 

 trines, and African travellers find little to gather, which does 

 not corroborate the contents of his interesting volumes. Now 

 Mr. Swainson has lately informed us, in Dr. Lardner's 'Cabi- 

 net Cyclopedia,' that in the natural system the rhinoceros and 

 cassowary mutually represent each other, from the circum- 

 stance of both possessing a dark protuberance about the fron- 

 tal region. Had Sir James fortunately possessed a copy of 

 Mr. Swainson's work, he must have perceived that this crea- 

 ture, with two dermal excrescences of concreted hair which 

 produce a noise by clapping against each other, was a genus 

 among the Mammalia representing the rattle-snake among 

 the ophidians. We are fully aware that the Crotalus sounds 

 its rattle when irritated, and has this organ at the tail instead 

 of the head ; but in the natural system reverse conditions, 

 instead of weakening analogies, often serve to render them 

 more striking. It would be a most interesting point to as- 

 certain if any particular species of "green-backed and blue- 

 winged fly " holds sentinal guard upon the caudal extremity 

 of the rattle-snake. 



Among other matters interesting to the naturalist, Sir James 

 notices, in addition to the common lion, of the usual light 

 brown colour, four others; — one entirely black, with long hair; 

 a third kind, quite white ; a fourth, with the neck only white ; 

 and a fifth, with legs striped like a tiger. Had he only pos- 

 sessed the artistical skill of Captain Harris, as displayed in 



1 Mag. Nat. Hist. Vol. i. n. s. p. 101. 



