RHINOCEROS FAMILY. 



45 



animals, with bent legs so short that the belly 

 seems almost to drag on the ground, extremely 

 ugly in appearance, with a rather surly temper 

 generally, and during accesses of fury ter- 

 rible. They are confined at the present day 

 to the tropics of Africa and I ndia, and present 

 specific differences in different localities. 



The head is of moderate size, we may even 

 say small in comparison with the huge body; 

 it is greatly elevated behind. Above, at the 

 back of the head, there are long ears in the 

 form of pointed paper-cornets with a narrow 

 thickened rim. The small eyes are placed at 

 the side, the long projecting snout is arched 

 above, and on this arch stands a horn of vari- 

 able size, or sometimes there are two horns 

 one behind the other. These horns, which 

 are borne on very strong upwardly-curved 

 nasal bones, are composed solely of fused 

 horny fibres, and their texture is exactly like 

 that of the hoofs or the hollow horns of oxen. 

 But they are distinguished from the latter in 

 that they have- no bony core, being quite solid 

 and connected only with the skin. The nasal 

 bones are only wrinkled and spongy at the 

 parts where these horns are attached not very 

 firmly. The horns readily come off a few days 

 after the death of the animal, through the 

 destruction of the vessels and the horn-pulp. 

 In certain districts these horns still have a 

 considerable value. They are used to make 

 cups, which have the reputation of destroying 

 the efficacy of poisons poured into them. 



The jaws and opening of the mouth are 

 enormous, the lips thick, and especially the 

 upper lip, which is covered with a very thin 

 skin, and is produced in the middle into a 

 finger-like prolongation, which enables the 

 animal to seize the twigs and stems of plants 

 on which it feeds. The neck is usually thicker 

 than the head and surrounded by broad folds 

 of skin, the belly very thick, the tail short, 

 and ending in a tuft. The legs cannot be 

 better described than by comparing them to 

 those of a badger-hound, so twisted and un- 

 shapely are they. They terminate in three 



toes, which are placed very close together, 

 covered with arched hoofs, and which all 

 touch the ground. Behind these hoofs there 

 is a broad callous sole. The very thick tough 

 hide is highly valued for the making of 

 shields, straps, cords, and whips. In living 

 aninials it presents two very remarkable 

 modifications, which have even been employed 

 for the grouping of species. In the Asiatic 

 forms there are scattered over it broad shield- 

 like plates composed of firmer parts, which 

 are connected together by more flexible folds 

 all running in the same direction. The animal 

 appears to carry a coat of armour composed 

 of several pieces, admitting of a certain amount 

 of mobility at the neck, shoulders, and hips. 

 In the African species, on the other hand, the 

 hide, though far from thin, is yet more flexible, 

 adapts itself better to the outline of the body, 

 and presents a smooth surface, instead of ex- 

 hibiting, like the armour-clad forms, as we 

 might call them, a number of knobs and 

 bosses, which have a distant resemblance to 

 the inequalities in the shields of the armadillos. 

 Usually this skin is quite naked; only a few 

 hairs are found on the edges of the ears and 

 at the end of the short tail, where they form a 

 tuft which never reaches down to the hollow of 

 the knee. The Quaternary rhinoceros, whose 

 remains are found in such abundance along 

 with those of the mammoth (R/t. tichorhinus), 

 had a woolly fleece interspersed with stronger 

 bristles, manifestly as the result of adaptation 

 to colder climates. 



The skeleton of these animals everywhere 

 shows heavy clumsy forms, with very marked 

 ridges for the insertion of the muscles. The 

 skull is in some species short and compact, in 

 others greatly lengthened in consequence of 

 the enormous size of the jaws. The rough 

 warty patches indicating the place of attach- 

 ment of the horns (which, in some species, 

 may grow to a length of more than 3 feet) 

 are very conspicuous on the back of the 

 nasals. The transverse ridges at the back of 

 the head, the processes of the vertebrae, the 



