566 



RHINOCEROS. 



The characters of the teeth are not so constant 

 as they are in many genera ; but the cheek-teeth, 

 which are the ones that determine the nature of the 

 food, are much the same in all the species. None of 

 them have any canine teeth, and the incisors vary 

 in number and size, and are sometimes wanting, at 

 least in the adult animal. The incisive teeth, when 

 complete, are four in each jaw, two larger and two 

 smaller, and sometimes the one of these, sometimes 

 the other, are placed in the intermediate part. The 

 cheek-teeth, in each side of each jaw, are seven in 

 number, with transverse ridges on their crowns, arid 

 those in the middle part of the jaw are usually the 

 largest. The alimentary canal answers to the coarse 

 vegetation upon which the animals feed. The sto- 

 mach is simple, and of very ample dimensions ; the 

 ccecum is also very ample, and the intestinal canal 

 is long. Great size in these parts is indeed one of 

 the characters in which all the Pachydermata agree 

 the most; and though there are differences among 

 them, we necessarily conclude that they are fitted 

 for subsisting on. a coarser vegetation than the Rumi- 

 nantia ; while their progressive history assigns their 

 general distribution over both cold and warm lati- 

 tudes to an earlier period. The same difference may 

 be stated, with a few exceptions, of the Rodentia, and 

 also of the whole of the Quadrumana ; and these are 

 the only other orders of mammalia which are decidedly 

 vegetable in their feeding. 



In their general appearance they are strong and 

 massive, but dull and unwieldy animals, though they 

 are more compact and indicative of strength, in propor- 

 tion to their size, than the elephants. Their aspect 

 cannot be said to be absolutely ferocious, but the 

 form, and especially the motion, of the upper lip, 

 gives them a snarling appearance. This lip is pro- 

 duced considerably beyond the nostrils, and also 

 beyond the lower lip ; it is pointed, and so far pre- 

 hensile as considerably to assist the animal in feed- 

 ing. The motion of the point is accompanied by 

 another motion of the middle part, which displays 

 the teeth, deepens some furrows near the gape, and 

 gives a forbidding aspect. It seems best adapted 

 for feeding on substances at or above the height of 

 the axis of its body ; but, though the animal is not 

 very rare in some localities, very little is known of 

 the details of its action in wild nature, as it cannot be 

 approached either with ease or safety. 



The legs are short and thick, sometimes approach- 

 ing the character of those of the elephant, and indi- 

 cating that the animal must be much on its legs as 

 indeed all animals are which subsist upon very coarse 

 food. The terminations of the feet are, however, 

 very different from those of the elephant. Each has 

 three toes, though very imperfectly developed exter- 

 nally of the membranes. The middle one is largest ; 

 the two lateral ones are nearly of equal size ; arid all 

 the three are furnished with short flat and blunt 

 hoofs. The head and neck are rather short ; the 

 ears of moderate size, and pointed, bearing a slierht 

 resemblance in shape to those of the bison. The 

 eyes are very small and lateral, so that the animal 

 cannot see well immediately in front. The tail is of 

 moderate length, or rather small, round toward the 

 root, and flattened in the sides toward the extremity. 

 The skin is of immense thickness and strength, 

 much gathered into folds in some of the species, and 

 for the most part destitute of hair, at least in the 

 species now Hying 1 . When there are a few hairs on 



the tail, they are usually found on the upper and 

 under edges of the flattened part, and there are gene- 

 rally a few hairs on the margins of the ears. The 

 female has two mammae seated in the groin ; but the 

 mode of gestation, and the other particulars of the 

 production of the young, or the duration of life, are 

 little known. It is pretty well established, however, 

 that in the Indian species the time of gestation is 

 nine months, and that the young, of which there are 

 never more than one at a time, begin to have the 

 appearance of the horn when nine months old ; and 

 it is supposed that the others follow the same law. 



The bones of the animals are remarkably dense 

 and compact, equal, as it is said, to those of the 

 fore leg and paw in the lion ; and Mr. Burchell, who 

 had many opportunities of observing the animals in 

 Southern Africa, mentions that a pewter bullet was 

 flattened by striking against them. The cervical 

 vertebrae have the number which is common to all the 

 mammalia, namely, seven. The vertebrae of the back 

 are nineteen in number, the ones at the shoulder with 

 large spinous processes. The lumbar vertebrae are 

 three, the sacral ones four, and those in the tail 

 twenty-two. There are nine true ribs and four false 

 ones on each side. 



The skin of the rhinoceros is " cudgel-proof" at all 

 times, and hardly penetrable by a leaden bullet, 

 unless urged on by a strong charge of powder. When 

 dried and prepared, it is exceedingly hard and tough, 

 and can be penetrated with difficulty by any ordinary 

 instrument. The flesh is much esteemed, at least by 

 the natives of some of the countries which the animals 

 inhabit. 



Though there are considerable differences of size 

 among the living species of the genus, they are all 

 large animals, and powerful in proportion to their 

 size ; but some of the extinct ones appear to have 

 been much smaller, and others of them still larger. 

 As existing, they are all natives of the eastern conti- 

 nent, and of the most tropical parts of it ; and none 

 have hitherto been found in the fossil state in Ame- 

 rica. We must not be too hasty in inferring from 

 this, however, that none of the genus ever existed in 

 America, for the portions of the soil of that vast con- 

 tinent that have been explored amount to so trifling 

 a portion of the whole, that they do not warrant us 

 in saying positively what is not there. The analogy 

 would, however, lead us to conclude that there never 

 has been any, as there are none living in the tropical 

 parts. On the eastern continent they appear to have 

 been at one time distributed over every latitude, for 

 they have been met with in various parts of Siberia ; 

 and, as is the case with the extinct elephant of the 

 north, one at least has been thawed out of the polar 

 ice, in that part of the world, in such a state of complete 

 preservation, as to show that it had been adapted to 

 the rigour of a cold climate, as it was pretty thickly 

 covered \vith hair. 



As now existing, the rhinoceros may be con- 

 sidered is the most aquatic of all the Pachydermata, 

 excepting the hippopotamus, and the ones which, next 

 to it, feed upon the rankest and coarsest vegetation. 

 They do not, like the hippopotami, spend the greater 

 part of their time in the water ; but they resort 

 frequently to it, not only to drink, but especially to 

 wallow in the mire, which they do something in the 

 same manner as hogs. They do not, however, at any 

 time range the forests at a distance from the water, as 

 is done by the elephants ; and though they have a 



