60 THE HORSE. 



grouped in three sections, which some zoologists con- 

 sider of generic value. 



I. Rhinoceros proper. The adults with a single 

 large compressed incisor tooth above on each side, 

 and occasionally a very small lateral one ; below, a 

 very small median, and a very large, procumbent, 

 pointed, lateral incisor (or canine?). Nasal bones 

 pointed in front. A single nasal horn. Skin dis- 

 posed in very massive, definitely arranged armor-like 

 plates, with soft interspaces or joints between them. 



There are two well-marked species of one-horned 

 rhinoceros : 



1. The Indian rhinoceros, R. unicornis of Lin- 

 naeus,* the largest and best known, from being 

 the most frequently exhibited alive in England, is at 

 present only met with in a wild state in the Terai 

 region of Nepal and Bhutan, and in the upper valley 



* Many authors use Cuvier's name, R. indieus, in prefer- 

 ence to this, on the ground that there are more than one 

 species with one horn, forgetting that the name substituted is 

 equally inconvenient, as more than one species live in India. 

 The fact of a specific name being applicable to several mem- 

 bers of a genus is no objection to its restriction to the first 

 to which it was applied, otherwise changes in old and well- 

 received names would constantly have to be made in conse- 

 quence of new discoveries. Ill-considered attempts at precis- 

 ion of nomenclature are often sources of confusion and future 

 difficulty. As Huxley has truly said, " It is better for science 

 to accept a faulty name which has the merit of existence, 

 than to burden it with a faultless newly-invented one." 



