ORDER PERISSODACTYLA : ODD-TOED UNGULATES 383 



many little wonder that the Javan-rhinoceros is now extinct in the 

 country." 

 Peacock (1933, pp. 77-79) says: 



In Burma, there is no authentic record of its shooting, except in one 

 instance, viz. a specimen shot . . . some years ago ... in the Mergui Dis- 

 trict in southernmost Burma. . . . 



The Javan rhinoceros has been shot illicitly on numerous occasions by 

 professional hunters and poachers: in fact, it has now been poached almost 

 out of existence. . . . 



It is open to question whether the Javan rhinoceros ever existed outside 

 of the Thaton, Salween and Mergui Forest Divisions in Lower Burma. The 

 only definite records of its existence come from these three Divisions. 



The best-known grounds used to be the forests of the Victoria Point Sub- 

 division in the Mergui District. Although, as Divisional Officer in charge of 

 the Mergui Forest Division, I spent four months in touring through that 

 Division, I could find no evidence of its existence outside of the Victoria 

 Point Subdivision. . . . 



The forests of the Victoria Point Subdivision undoubtedly held, at one 

 time, a very fair number of Javan rhinoceros, but these have long since 

 been poached out of existence for the sake of the valuable horn and blood 

 which realize an even greater price than that of the Sumatran rhinoceros. . . . 



It is extremely doubtful whether there are now more than half a dozen 

 specimens of R. sondaicus in existence in Burma, and it is unlikely that they 

 will survive. 



This is the most threatened mammal in Burma. It "is now, so far 

 as known, confined to the Kahilu Game Sanctuary in the Thaton 

 Forest Division of Lower Burma. This Sanctuary was formed with 

 the chief object of affording shelter to these rhino which are believed 

 to number six specimens. No death has been reported since 1931 and 

 there are grounds for believing that these rhino will be saved from 

 extinction. Hunting prohibited. In the past ruthlessly persecuted 

 for the sake of the blood which is claimed to have medicinal proper- 

 ties." (Game Warden, Burma, in litt., November, 1936.) 



"In a letter received from the Forest Department, Shwebb, it 

 stated that four specimens of the Javan rhinoceros probably occur 

 in the Kahilu Game Sanctuary. This is. located in the Thaton and 

 Salween Districts, in Lower Burma. In the Shwe-U-Daung Game 

 Sanctuary in Upper Burma, it is hoped that a few may exist but it 

 is unlikely." (Loch, 1937, p. 133.) 



Siam. Flower (1900, pp. 366-367) records a specimen brought to 

 the Siamese Museum in 1897, apparently from the Laos Country. He 

 also remarks on the eagerness of the volunteer skinners (mostly 

 Siamese women) to secure the blood, flesh, and bones. 



In his notes on R. sondaicus and R. sumatrensis in Siam, Gylden- 

 stolpe (1919, p. 170) confuses the technical and the common names 

 of the two species, so that it is difficult to allocate the notes to the 

 right species. Both animals, however, were evidently rare at that 

 time. 



