THE ASIATIC RHINOCEROSES 1057 



the large tubercles of the Indian rhinoceros; while the fold in front of the shoulder, 

 instead of inclining backward, is continued right across the body like the other two 

 main folds. Superficially, the skin is divided by a network of cracks into a number 

 of small mosaic-like discs. The great folds of skin which are so conspicuous in the 

 neck of the Indian rhinoceros are in this species much less strongly developed. The 

 general color is a uniform dusky gray. The skull is less elevated than in the larger 

 species in the occipital region; but there are the same number of front teeth. In 

 structure, the upper molar teeth are, however, simpler, resembling the lower of the 

 two figured on p. 1051; and their crowns are not so tall. Measurements of wild in- 

 dividuals appear to be very few, but in a large female the height at the shoulder was 

 five and one-half feet. The female is generally or invariably hornless. 



This species has a much more extensive distribution than its larger 

 Distribution . ^i . ., , . , . 



cousin. There is no evidence that it ever occurred in Peninsular 



India, but it is found in the Bengal sundarbans and portions of Eastern Bengal, 

 while it has been met with in the Sikkim "terai." From the valley of Assam it 

 ranges eastward through Burma and the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Java, and 

 Borneo; its partially fossilized remains occurring in the latter island. 



Mr. Blanford observes that this species "is more an inhabitant of 

 the forest than of grass, and although it is found in the alluvial 

 swamps of the sundarbans, its usual habitat appears to be in hilly countries. It 

 has been observed at considerable elevations both in Burma and Java." Indeed, 

 there is evidence that it probably ascends occasionally to as much as seven thousand 

 feet above the sea level. This species being a forest-dwelling one, while its molar 

 teeth are of the same pattern as those of the leaf and branch-eating common African 

 rhinoceros, it is pretty certain that its food must be of the same general nature as 

 that of the latter. In disposition the Javan rhinoceros is said to be more gentle than 

 the large Indian species, and it is not unfrequently tamed by the Malays. The 

 liorns are never large, and afford but poor trophies to the sportsman. 



In the Pliocene rocks of the Siwalik hills at the foot of the Hima- 

 Allied Siwalik ] a y as there occur remains of a single -horned rhinoceros (R. sivalensis) , 

 which appears to have been closely allied to the Javan species, of 

 which the original home may accordingly have been India. More re- 

 markable, however, is the occurrence of a fossil rhinoceros in the interior of the 

 Himalayas, at an elevation of about sixteen thousand feet above the sea level, which 

 likewise seems to have been related to the same species. It may be added that an- 

 other fossil Indian rhinoceros (R. pal&indicus} , of which an upper molar tooth is 

 represented in the lower figure on p. 1051 , appears to have been the forerunner of the 

 living great Indian rhinoceros; its molar teeth approximating to those of the latter, 

 although of a rather less complex structure. 



Reverting to the living Asiatic species, the last of all is the Suma- 



Sumatran rhinoceros (R. sumatrensis) , which is mainly characteristic of the 



Rhinoceros 



countries to the eastward of the Bay of Bengal, occurring but rarely 



in Assam, although a single example has been obtained from Bhutan. From Assam 

 it ranges through Burma and the Malay Peninsula to Siam, Sumatra, and Borneo, 

 but it is quite unknown in Java. 

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