HOOK-LIPPED OR BLACK RHINOCEROS or>:i 



ferred to in natural-history literature as a race, holmwoodi^ 

 described by Sclater in 1893, and based on two extremely 

 lon^ front horns having a length of more than forty inches, 

 and (obtained l)y purcliase at Zanzil)ar l)y Hohnwood. The 

 describer of the species supposed the horns to belong to a 

 distinct race having very long and slender front horns. 

 They, however, represent merely the extremes in length of 

 several hundred horns which have reached Zanzibar as 

 articles of trade accumulated by safaris in the interior of 

 the continent. As the rhinoceroses of East Africa are not 

 distinguishable by horn characters or by size from those of 

 South Africa, the name holmzuoodi is at present not ap[)lica- 

 ble to any race. We have examined several skulls of blac k 

 rhinoceroses from South Africa in the British Museum and 

 have found them quite indistinguishable from specimens 

 from East Africa. 



The black rhinoceros has not received its common 

 English name because its coloration is actually bhuker 

 than that of other species, but rather to contrast it with 

 the other African rhinoceros which has been so unfortunate 

 as to have the designation of *' white" bestowed upon it. 

 Under these circumstances we may descril)e the black rhi- 

 noceros as slightly blacker than the white one, but both 

 would be considered black in color by the average observer. 

 The color of the skin of the black rhinoceros, upon close 

 scrutiny, is found to vary from a deep neutral gray to black- 

 ish-brown. The color is uniform over the whole dorsal 

 surface, but becomes on the belly and under-parts slightly 

 lighter and more grayish. About the groins and the 

 axillae it is dull whitish and quite devoid of dark pigment. 

 Both sexes are cjuite alike in color. The calves are usually 

 deep neutral gray and usually a shade lighter than their 

 parents. The body is absolutely hairless with the excep- 

 tion of the tij)s of the ears, the tip of the tail, and the eye- 

 brows, which parts are clothed by a fringe of black hair. 

 7'he tail is furnished along the two edges of its compressed 

 ti[) by a crest of hair which f)rojects stiffly out in line with 

 the compressed surface, the two crests meeting at the ti[) 

 but not forming a tuft distinct from the lateral crests. 

 The hair has a length of from 4 to 6 inches and covers 

 usually merely the terminal 5 inches of the tail. The hair 



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