ORDER PERISSODACTYLA I ODD-TOED UNGULATES 385 



completely disappeared from Cambodia. (Resident Superieur of 

 Cambodia, in Hit., November 20, 1936.) 



Twenty years ago sondaicus and sumatrensis were abundant in 

 the whole Mekong Valley, and they were hunted not far from 

 Saigon, in the marshy plains covered with spiny bamboo. Since then 

 the two types have completely disappeared. The last specimen 

 killed (sondaicus) was secured by a European hunter in upper Cam- 

 bodia two years ago. The animals may be considered practically 

 annihilated. (Andre Kieffer, in litt., November 21, 1936.) 



P. Vitry (in litt., December 20, 1936) sends the following infor- 

 mation concerning sondaicus and sumatrensis in Laos. Before 1890 

 they were still quite numerous on the western buttresses of the 

 Annam mountain chain. The maximum frequency was in the south 

 and more particularly on the Boloven Plateau and the slopes ex- 

 tending west to the Mekong on the boundary of Cambodia. During 

 the last 30 years I have only once seen tracks. The last specimen 

 killed in southern Laos, so far as I know, was in 1911 in the Boloven 

 Plateau region. I am sure that a very few still exist: in the Sonla- 

 Samnena region, probably also in certain regions of the Boloven 

 Massif, practically uninhabited and not visited by the natives, and 

 in the mountain buttresses separating the upper Selanong and Sekong 

 from Kontum. There has most certainly been an intensive destruc- 

 tion by native hunters on both banks of the Mekong ; they even drive 

 the animals down to the sea (particularly in the Phanrang, Cam- 

 ranh, and Phanthiet districts in southern Annam). The purchase 

 price for a complete rhino ranges from about 1,000 piasters in 1910 

 to about 2,000 piasters at the present time. Everything is utilized by 

 the Chinese pharmacies not only the horns, but also the meat, the 

 hide, the blood, the vital organs, and especially the urine! In my 

 opinion no protective measures can be taken. 



Loch (1937, pp. 142-144) has assembled more definite information 

 concerning this species in Indo-China. He quotes E. M. de Villa as 

 follows: "The one-horned rhinoceros ... is still to be found in 

 several parts of Indo-China, being fairly well represented on both 

 sides of the great Annamite Range, and both north and south of it. 

 ... It is known and hunted on the Dar Lac Plateau at an elevation 

 of about 3,000 feet, and last year some natives invited me to hunt a 

 party of about four rhinos near Cua Rao, about 100 feet above sea 

 level. Rhinoceros and elephants . . . are met with between Kratie 

 and Sung Treng, south of Sara vane (in Cambodia to the east of the 

 Mekong) and in many places in Laos." 



Loch (1937, p. 143) writes: 



M. Antoine Lagreze, the Resident at Vinh in Northern Annam, . . . has 

 written . . . that several specimens still exist in the dense forests separating 

 the provinces of Vinh and Thanh-Hoa, in northern Annam. Also in the 



