158 MAMMALrA. 



There have been found under ground, in Siberia, and in different 

 parts of Germany, the bones of a two-horned Rhinoceros, the 

 cranium of which, besides being much more elongated than that of 

 any living species, is also distinguished by a bony vertical partition 

 that supported the bones of the nose. It is a lost species; and a 

 nearly entire body, which was taken from the ice on the banks of the 

 Vilhoui in Siberia, showed that it was covered with tolerably thick 

 hair. It is possible then that its habitat was to the north, like that 

 of the fossil Elephant. 



In Tuscany, and in Lombardy, there have been disinterred, still 

 more recently, other Rhinoceros bones, which seem to approximate 

 much nearer to that of Africa. 



Some have been found in Germany with incisors like the Asiatic 

 species; and lastly, some of their bones have been discovered in 

 France, which announce a size hardly superior to that of the Hog. (a) 



Hyrax, Hermann. 



The Damans, as they are termed, have long been placed among the Ro- 

 dentia, on account of their very small size ; if, however, we examine them 

 closely, we shall find, with the exception of the horn, they are Rhinoce- 

 roses in miniature, at least they have exactly similar molars ; but their 

 upper jaw is furnished with two strong incisors curved downwards, and at 

 an early age with two very small canines ; the lower one has four incisors, 

 but no canines. All of them having a sort of very small hoof, thin and 

 rounded, with the exception of the inner toe of the hind foot, which is 

 armed with a hooked and crooked nail. The muzzle and the ears are 

 short; they are covered with hair, and have a tubercle in lieu of a tail. 

 Their stomach is dinded into two sacs, and besides a large caecum and 

 several dilations of the colon, there are two appendages about the middle 

 of the latter analogous to the two c«ca of birds. 



There is one species known which is as large as a Rabbit, of a 

 greyish colour, and tolerably common among the rocks of all Africa, 

 where it frequently becomes the victim of birds of prey, and which 

 also appears to inhabit some parts of Asia; at least we cannot per- 

 ceive any certain difference between the Hyrax capensis and the 

 H. syriacus, Buff. Supp. VI. xlii, xliii, and VII. Ixxix.* The 



Pal^otherium, Cuv., 



Is also a lost genus, with the same grinders as the two preceding, six in- 

 cisors, and two canines in each jaw, like the Tapirs, and three visible toes 



(*) I have strong doubts of the authenticity of the Hyrax hudsonius, Bewick 407, 

 and Schreb. CCXL. c. It has only been seen in a Museum. 



^^ (a) The teeth of the fossil Rhinoceros have been found in England, and Dr. 

 Buckland gives a section of one in his Relig, ZJi/ay., which was taken ovit of Kirkdale 

 cave. All these remains belong to diluvial deposits, or to those changes which were 

 effected by the deluge. It is remarkable that the circumstances under which the 

 bones of the Rhinoceros are found, serve to justify the conclusion, that these animals 

 lived in troops with the Elephant. — Eng. Ed. 



