154 



THE REASON WHY : 



" There is no beast but hath his enemy ; as the conv the 

 polecat, a sheepe the woolfe, the elephant the rhinoceros, and so 

 of other beasts the like." HACKMJYT. 



4G1. Why is the rhinoceros provided with these horny 

 appendages ? 



Because the animal feeds upon the branches of trees and other 



vegetable matter. Some of 

 the trees yielding con- 

 siderable resistance, the 

 rhinoceros uses its horn, or 

 horns, as a kind of punch or 

 axe to sever the fibre, and 

 bring down its food. 



Having obtained a branch, 

 he first devours the leaves 

 and smaller stems, and then, 

 placing his snout as low in 

 the trunk as he finds his 

 horns will enter, he rips up 

 the main trunk, splitting it 

 into thin pieces, like so many 

 laths ; and he then crushes 

 the pieces so prepared with 

 his powerful jaws. 



462. When we speak of horns our imagination pictures such as we are familiar 

 with in the ox ; but it must not be supposed that the nasal horn of the rhinoceros 

 presents a similar structure. The nasal horn of the ox consists of a bony 

 cone, or process from the skull, encased in a horny sheath. The nasal horn of 

 the rhinoceros is a solid mass, structurally composed of agglutinate/ \ fibres, 

 analogous to hair, and much resembling those into which whalebone is so easily 

 separable. 



The horn of the rhinoceros, originating as it does in the skin only, has none of its 

 sensibility. The form of the disc of skin to which it is attached, and the fact of its 

 attachment equally to all parts of that disc, give it a strength of base which no 

 other horn possesses; and its fibrous structure throughout make it secure from 

 fracture from any cross Gtrain. The circumstance of its being placed over the bone 

 of the nose completely prevents any concussion of the brain, even from the most 

 violent use of it ; and its central position admits of its being employed with the 

 who!* powisr of the animal. 



