693 



RHINOCEROS. 



RHINOCEROS. 



604 



resemble the Horse in this part of the skeleton. The anterior face of 

 the semiiunar bone is square, and not pointed above, as in the Hippo- 

 potamus. None of the bones of the anterior extremities are liable to 

 be confounded with those of animals of the same size ; and though 

 their greatest resemblance is to those of the Tapir, the suialluess of 

 those of the latter makes a sufficient distinction. 



which result from the form of the zygomatic arches, the direction of 

 the occipital crest, and that which the difference of the incisive bones 

 produces on the front of the palate, it may be observed that the 

 series of molars is longer in 11. Africanus and K. simus, and that it 

 converges anteriorly with that of the opposite side. 4. The posterior 

 surface is demi-elliptical, and higher than it is wide in R. Indices, 



Skeleton of Rhinoceros Indicia. 



The posterior extremities present the following remarkable parts : 

 The pelvis is extremely wide, and that of the elephant alone among 

 living quadrupeds resembles it ; but the pelvis of the Rhinoceros is 

 at once distinguished by its forked spine. The angle of the os ilium, 

 which reaches the sacrum, is besides more elevated, and its neck much 

 longer and narrower. The external edge of this bone is nearly as 

 great as the internal, whilst in the Elephant it is much smaller. The 

 crest of the pubis commences from the top of the ossa ilii. The oval 

 holes are wider than they are long. The tuberosity of the ischium is 

 very large above, and in the form of a hook. The femur is if any- 

 thing more remarkable than the humerus; its upper part is extremely 

 flattened from before backwards; the eminence which Cuvier calls the 

 third trochanter projects extremely, and forms a hook, which ascends 

 to touch a hook descending from the ordinary grand trochanter, so 

 that there is an oval hole between these two eminences. The tibia, 

 fibula, tarsus, and the upper part of the metatarsus are constructed 

 upon the plan of those of the Horse ; but the pulley of the astragalus 

 is wider, more oblique, less deep, and its posterior internal angle is 

 obliquely truncated ; the astragalus touches the cuboid bone by a 

 rather wide surface ; the scaphoid and the third cuneiform bones are 

 less flattened ; the second cuneiform and the cuboid larger. In these 

 points the Rhinoceros resembles the Tapir more than the Horse, and 

 indeed were it not for size would be hardly distinguishable from the 

 former; but it differs from both in having a larger and stouter 

 calcaneum. Its anterior or astragalian surface is triangular. The 

 astragalus has two large facets ; that of the inside is prolonged into a 

 tail-like process all along the lower edge of this surface, as in the 

 Tapir. In the Horse the third facet towards the external angle is 

 distinct. The facet, which touches the cuboid bone, is very small. 

 The cuboid bone has a large and long protuberance behind, which 

 does not exist in the Horse. On the inside of the foot is a similar 

 one, produced by a supernumerary bone attached to the scaphoid, the 

 internal cuneiform, and the internal metatarsial bones, which repre- 

 sent at once the first cuneiform and the thumb in its entirety. This 

 bone exists only in the Tapir and iu the Horse ; but in the latter it is 

 promptly soldered to the second cuneiform bone. The scaphoid bone 

 then has three articular facets on its inferior or rather metatarsial 

 face ; the third cuneiform or internal bone is much smaller than the 

 other. The phalanges are all wider than they are long ; the second 

 phalanx of the middle toe is especially short. The last are channelled 

 like those of the hoof of a horse. (Cuv.) 



The osteology of the various species ol - Rhinoceros differs very con- 

 siderably. The following differences appear on examining the skull of 

 the two-horned species of the Cape : 1. On its upper surface the 

 horizontal contour of the bones of the nose is rounded in the Cape 

 species, and almost extravagantly so in R. rimut, whilst in the one-horned 

 species it is pointed. 2. The principal differences in the profile relate 

 to the form of the incisive bones, which in R. Indicia advance as far 

 as the bones of the nose, and have above a particular apophysis t in 

 R. Africanut and R. timtu the incisive bones are each reduced to a 

 small oblong piece. 3. On the lower surface, besides the differences 



*AT. BUT. D1V. VOL. IV. 



and rather wider than it is high in R. Africanus and R. siinus, in 

 which last the occipital foramen is wider than it is high, whilst in 

 R. Indicus those proportions are reversed. 



The principal differences of the lower jaws are (besides the length 

 which precedes the molars, which is much less in R. Africanm and 

 R. gimtts than in R. Indicus), 1st, that the series of molars is longer 

 in the African species ; 2nd, that the rising branches are much less 

 high ; 3rd, that the coronoid apophyses are much shorter, less pointed, 

 and less directed forwards ; 4th, that the dental branches are much 

 more convex externally. 



Skull of Rhinoceros licortris. 



The One-Horned Rhinoceros of Java (/?. Juvanus) resembles less, 

 in the bones of the extremities, the R, Indicia, than does the R. 

 Africanus; which, as Cuvier observes, is remarkable. But in the 

 skull the resemblance to that of R. Indians is striking, though tlicru 

 are still remarkable differences. The whole cranium, for instance, is 

 less, and the zygomatic arches, the orbits, and the nasal bones, which 

 terminate in a sharp point, are less developed. The post-orbital 



Skull of Rhinoceros Jn 



