262 COMMON BRITISH ANIMALS 



Ehinoceroses. 



These animals formerly existed in vast hordes in 

 Europe and Asia and even within the arctic circle. 

 To-day they are restricted to the tropical swamps 

 and marshes of Africa and the Indian region, and are, 

 like the elephants, a vanishing family. The name 

 " rhinoceros '^ is derived from two Greek Avords 

 meaning " nose-horn,^' and was given them by the 

 ancients because of the horn, which grows above the 

 nose of these animals, and is a peculiar and distin- 

 guishing feature. The Indian and the Javan rhino- 

 ceroses, have a single horn, while the Sumatran 

 and African species have two horns, one behind the 

 other. These horns of unusual structure, resemble 

 that of whalebone when examined microscopically. 

 They are composed of long epidermic cells matted 

 together, and are reall}^ warts which have assumed 

 a solid and definite form, usually conical and curved 

 backwards. 



The most interesting feature to us in the rhinoceros 

 is the structure of his feet, since it illustrates a stage 

 in the evolution of that wonderful organ of locomo- 

 tion, the horse's leg. The rhinoceros has three toes 

 on the fore and hind feet, each provided with broad 

 rounded hoofs. The skin of existing rhinoceroses is 

 hairless and is gnarled and thickened and thrown 

 into folds, forming armour-like plates, which are 

 separated by softer skin beneath the folds. Thus, 

 the armour-plates are movable, as if jointed beneath 

 the folds. 



The extinct northern rhinoceros is commonly known 

 as the " woolly rhinoceros,^' since whole carcases. 



