RHINOCEROTID&. 405 
FAMILY RHINOCEROTID-A. 
“The skeleton of the rhinoceros viewed generally has a resemblance 
to that of the little hyrax, the tapir, and the horse. The skull is very 
much elevated at the base, being somewhat of a pyramidal form, and 
the nasal bones curve upwards and downwards, and are of such a size 
and thickness, in order to support one or more immense horns, that they 
are quite unparalleled for their development in any other existing 
quadruped. ‘The nasal bones, together with the premaxillary and 
maxillary bones, form the general contour for the external apertures 
of the nostrils. This is peculiar, and found in no other animal with the 
exception of the tapir.”—Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins and Mr. Oakley. 
The external appearance of this animal is familiar to most—a large 
ungainly creature, with a long head, a massive horn on its nose, some- 
times two horns; a round unwieldly body covered with an immensely 
thick hide arranged in heavy folds ; short tail and short legs, with three 
toes covered with broad nails or hoofs. 
The stomach is simple ; the intestines about eight times the length 
of the body, and the czecum is large and sacculated. The horn isa 
mere agglutinated mass of hair or fibre superimposed on the skin, and 
has no bony core. The females have two inguinal mamme. 
The dentition is peculiar; “the grinders are implanted by distinct 
roots, and in the upper jaw their crowns are traversed by two deep folds 
of enamel which constitute open valleys. In the lower jaw they are 
composed of two crescent-shaped lobes, also open. The covering of 
cement is thin, and never fills up the valleys, as in the case of the more 
complex dental system in the horse. The normal number of grinders 
is seven in each jaw, while the incisors, as we have already remarked, 
vary not only in form but also are sometimes absent, and canines are 
not developed in any of the living or fossil members of the family.”— 
Boyd Dawkins and Oakley. 
The Rhinocerotide are divided into two groups—the Asiatic and the 
African; and the former consist of two genera—RHINOCEROS and 
CERATORHINUS, the former with one and the latter with two horns. 
It is a moot point whether the rhinoceros is or is not the unicorn of 
Scripture, though it is by no means clear that the animal in question 
was a one-horned creature, but according to some might have been the 
great wild ox or urus of Macedonia. An Indian single-horned rhinoceros 
was sent from India to the king of Portugal in 1513, and from it 
various most distorted pictures were disseminated throughout Europe. 
It was represented as covered with a wondrous suit of armour beautifully 
decorated, and with a second horn on its shoulders ! 
The first one brought alive to England was in 1685. Parsons 
