On the Growth and Habits of a rjoung Rhinocei^os. 165 



Their length when they were hatched was eighteen inches long ; but 

 we are informed by a letter from our correspondent, dated 10th October 

 182G, that they have increased to thirty'eight inches, having grown twenty 

 inches in fifteen months. 



6. On the Growth and Habits of a young Rhinoceros. By Mr Hodg- 

 son, Surveyor General of India. 



Mr Hodgson's observations on the rhinoceros form the continuation of a 

 paper read at a meeting of the Physical Committee of the Asiatic Society in 

 February 1825, on the Gestation of the Rhinoceros, at the close of which 

 he proposed to furnish to the Committee, from time to time, an account 

 of the rate of growth of one of these animals which was born in the Mena- 

 gerie of the Rajah of Nepal. The first dimensions taken of the animal 

 were made at three days old, when it measured two feet in height, three 

 feet four inches and three quarters in length, and four feet and seven- 

 fourths of an inch in its greater circumference ; since that, it has increased 

 in the following proportions : From three days to one month it gained 

 five inches in height, five inches and three quarters in length, and three 

 inches and three quarters in circumference ; while, from the age of one to 

 fourteen months, it increased one foot seven inches in height, two feet in 

 length, and two feet seven inches in circumference. From fourteen to nine- 

 teen months four inches in height, one foot four inches and a half in length 

 and two feet four inches in circumference ; the Rhinoceros being at the 

 date of the last measurement in December 1825, four feet four inches high, 

 seven feet four inches and a half long, and nine feet five inches in circum- 

 ference. 



In general aspect the cub now resembles the mother,' the heavy folds 

 of the skin which were wanting in July last being fully formed in De- 

 cember. The nasal horn at the latter period scarcely protruded two inches 

 beyond the skin. 



The observations of Mr Hodgson are of great value in reference to all 

 questions respecting the rate of developement and full growth of many of 

 the larger animals, respecting which scarcely any authentic statements are 

 to be found in authors, although they have exercised the genius of Buffon 

 and other philosophical writers. The diminished ratio of increase of 

 height remarkable in the later period of developement, as stated by Mr 

 Hodgson, renders it probable that the animal will yet be a long time in 

 arriving at its adult size, a supposition which is also rendered probable by 

 its seventeen months' gestation, and the slow growth of its horn. 



Mr Hodgson, in pursuing his inquiries, has had occasion to remark the 

 araiableness of the young animal's disposition, both towards his keeper and 

 strangers, an instance, he observes, of the power possessed by Asiatics through 

 their tranquil familiarity of taming the most formidable quadrupeds. — ■ 

 That the rhinoceros will submit to the domesticating influence of man we 

 have seen more than one instance, nor would the tractability of this her- 

 bivorous animal seem in any way a matter of surprise, when we know that 

 the fiercest of the carnivorous tribe have become the attached companions 

 of their master, if the rhinoceros had not been held up by writers of every 



