172 MAMMALS. 



These are all iVmiid in Africa proper, that is, south of the Sahara. None arc fonnd in North 

 Africa. The Borele ranges over the whole of the west and south of Africa, from the Sahara, through 

 Congo, to the Cape. • It does not appear to extend into Abyssinia. The other species, so tar as yet 

 known, more affect the east and centre of the continent than the west. 



The Asiatic species are — 1. The great one-horned species, Rii. Indicus (oll)ii Rh. unicokms*), 

 which, according to Mr. Blyth, is now limited to the Tcrai region at the foot of the Ilinimalayahs 

 and valley of the Brahmaputra (or province of Assam). 2. A smaller one-horned species, which was 

 formerly believed to be confined to Java (Rh. Sondatcus, Ilornf., oUm Rh. Javanicus, Cuv.), but has 

 been lately satisfactorily shown by Mr. Blyth to extend from the mainland by Malacca to Burma into 

 India. It appears, indeed, from his investigations, that the species usually supposed to be the Indian 

 Rhinoceros, in contradistinction to the Javanese, has, in point of fact, been all the time the latter 

 species, while the true large Indian species is confined to the limited sub-IIimmalayan territory above 

 mentioned. The third species is the Rh. Sumatranus, formerly thought to be confined to Sumatra, 

 but now ascertained by ]Mi-. Blyth to range alongside the Rn. Sonuaicus in the Indo-Chinese country, 

 keeping towards the east, while the latter holds more to its west or Burnian side. 



Whether the Rh. Sumatranus occurs in Borneo is a disputed question. Mr. Blyth treats it as 

 perfectly jiroved, but he himself has no personal knowledge on the subject. So slight is the evidence 

 in suppoi't of it that Mr. Spencer St. Johnf only says, " Among the principal animals which frequent the 

 forests of Borneo may be mentioned the Elephant, Rhinoceros, the Tapir," &c., " the first three have 

 not been seen by Europeans," and again, " The Rhinoceros is a rare animal, though it is reported in 

 some of the wilder parts of the country, and the existence of the Tapir rests upon the same testimony !"% 

 What testimony ? He has just said that there is none. " 7/ /.s rryjor^'^/ " is usually considered the 

 reverse of tcstiinoiii/. I can find no better authority, and until I do I cannot agree with Mr. Blyth in 

 admitting that either the Rhinoceros or the Tapir are inhabitants of Borneo. 



While I render all homage to my friend Mr. Blyth's admirable powers of discrimination in 

 matters falling under his own personal observation, I do not think him nearly so safe a guide in 

 questions depending upon testimony or report. Nothing delights him more than to get hold of 

 some old tradition or natives' report, or to untorab some black-letter notice of antiquity regarding 

 some unknown animal, and to bring his great knowledge to bear in expiscating its meaning and 

 determining the species thereof. I rather demur to some of his determinations of this kind because 

 I think nothing but deliberate examination b)' a competent naturalist ought to be received, and 

 that it matters little whether a report comes from a native or a European, if they are not 

 conversant with the subject on which they speak. An instance illustrative of the idiosyncracy 

 which leads Mr. Blyth to swallow with zest everything that comes seasoned with obscurity 

 and natural history, occurs in his "Memoir on the Living Asiatic Species of Rhinoceros" 

 above referred to, so excellent in all that has come within his own pei'sonal observation. It is with 



* Although I follow the nomenclature now in general embodies an nnti'iilh (as Chryaomda Americana for a 



use, I must acknowledge that I see no good i-eason for Mediterranean species), that is a different thing. Although 



altering the old well-known names unicornis and bicor>iis. we cannot have the whole truth, let us at least have 



merely because we now know more than one one-horned nothing liut the truth even in coijnomina rervm. 

 or one two-horned species, or to alter a geograpliicil t " Life in the Forests of the Far East," by Spencer 



name because its range proves wider than was supposed — St. John, vol. ii. p. :!44. Limdon, 1803. 

 names have long ceased to be scientific descriptions, and % Siiencer St. John, op. cit., vol. ii. p. i .(i. 



are now simply cognomina reriim. If, indeed, a name 



