S86 Scientific Intelligence — Zoology. 



unknown to the Greeks previous to the Roman conquests, exist in 

 our day only in the warmer regions of the old continent ; but they 

 have been found in a fossil state in a multitude of European locali- 

 ties, and their remains have been described by numerous authors. 

 These animals form so distinct a genus, that we rarely find errors 

 in the generic determination of their fossil bones ; but the case is not 

 the same with regard to the discrimination of species. If we adopt 

 as real all that have been indicated, we must believe that, during the 

 conclusion of the tertiary epoch and the commencement of the dilu- 

 vian epoch, at least eighteen species of rhinoceros inhabited Europe ! 

 Extensive researches continued during three years, and the compa- 

 rison of a great quantity of bones, have convinced M. Blainville that 

 the number must be greatly restricted, and that the greater part of 

 these species had been established without sufficient grounds. We 

 shall not attempt to give in this place an extract of the numerous 

 anatomical and odontographic details contained in this voluminous 

 memoir ; we shall merely point out the principal conclusion to which 

 the learned author has come to with regard to the number of species, 

 and their geographical and geological distribution. 



M. de Blainville admits five living species as indisputable : two of 

 which are African : the rhinoceros of the Cape (Bh. bicornis), and 

 the camus rhinoceros of Southern Africa (Rh. simus) ; three are 

 Asiatic ; the rhinoceros of India {Rh. unicornis)^ the rhinoceros of 

 Java, with one horn and f incisors (Rh. Javanus), and that of Su- 

 matra, with two horns and probably f incisors {Rh. Sumatranus). 

 Some authors distinguish two other African species, which M de 

 Blainville considers imperfectly characterised. Some accounts 

 would likewise lead us to believe in the existence of a rhinoceros in 

 Africa with one horn, which would form another species to be added 

 to the preceding. 



Among the fossil rhinoceroses, M. de Blainville admits but three 

 European species as certain. The first is the rhinoceros with parti- 

 tioned nostrils {Rh. tichorhinus) . This species, destitute of incisors, 

 had three toes on each foot, the cranium elongated, the nostrils se- 

 parated by a bony partition ; its nose was provided with two horns ; 

 its molars approached those of the Bhinoceros camus, its bones were 

 short and strong, and its body covered with hair. M. de Blainville 

 remarks on this subject, that these hairs have sometimes been erro- 

 neously described as forming a long and thick fur, but at most they 

 did not exceed three lines in length. Rh. tichorhinus is found in the 

 deposits formed during the diluvian epoch. It is probable that it 

 inhabited Siberia, and the greater part of Europe. This is the spe- 

 cies which has been found preserved in the ice of the North of Asia. 



The second species is the rhinoceros with nostrils not partitioned 

 (Rh. leptorhinus), which had persistent incisors, but concealed in the 

 gums, three toes on each foot, two horns, an elongated cranium, and 

 slender bones. We must unite with it the Rh. Monspesullanus of 



