RHINO 



any supposed difference of temperature as depending 

 on the action of the sun, between the present time and 

 that at which the rhinoceros was a common inhabitant 

 of Europe and the north of Asia ; for the change from 

 being very humid to being very dry is quite sufficient 

 to explain the circumstances. This principle would 

 lead to many other conclusions respecting the re- 

 moval of an animal from one climate to another, and 

 the means of applying art so as to facilitate its adapta- 

 tion to the change ; but we have not room, neither is 

 this the proper place for entering upon the subject, 

 interesting though it be. We shall therefore proceed 

 to notice the living species of two-horned rhinoceri. 

 i AFRICAN RHINOCEROS (R. Africanus). This :is 

 unquestionably the typical animal of the two-horned 

 species ; and it is the largest and most powerful, and 

 apparently the most numerous, of the whole. It 

 ranges the whole of the African continent from the 

 Cape of Good Hope to the upper part of the valley of 

 the Nile ; and although the size and colour vary in 

 some of the localities, or at least in some individuals, 

 it is probably the same specific animal throughout the 

 whole extent of its range. 



It is probable that this species was known to the 

 ancients, though the two-horned rhinoceros first disco- 

 vered by modern naturalists appears to be the one 

 which is now called the Sumatran rhinoceros. Pau?a- 

 nias mentions, under the name of the Ethiopian 

 bull, an animal which agrees better with the cha- 

 racters of the African rhinoceros than with those of 

 any other animal with which we are acquainted. 

 What gives greater appearance of truth to this, is the 

 fact that the profile of a two-horned rhinoceros is 

 found on some medals struck by order of the em- 

 peror Domitian ; and there are hints in various ancient 

 writers, respecting this animal, as distinct from the rhi- 

 noceros of India. Farther, we can draw no conclusion 

 respecting- the animals which the ancients may have 

 met with in Northern Africa, than those which we 

 now find in the places that the ancients visited. For 

 many extensive tracts of that country which were 

 humid in ancient times are now dry ; and many 

 which were covered with rich pastures are now desert. 

 Accordingly, many animals, both herbivorous and 

 predatory, have disappeared ; and there can be no 

 doubt that, in proportion as the country became dry, 

 the rhinoceros would be among the very first to de- 

 part; and that, as the desert continues to increase, the 

 pasture of these animals will be narrowed in the same 

 proportion. 



CEROS. 571 



This animal, at least in the adult state, has no 

 incisive teeth, and even the intermaxillary bones 

 appear to be wanting. Some, however, are men- 

 tioned of smaller size, and with two incisors in each 

 jaw ; but it is probable that these, though the ob- 

 servers have considered them as distinct species, are 

 only young animals which have not shed their milk 

 teeth. This is rendered the more probable by the 

 circumstance of those species which have two incisors 

 in each jaw when adult, having four milk teeth in each 

 of the same ; and it is also to be borne in mind that 

 a milk tooth is an appendage of the gum rather than 

 of the bone ; and that, therefore, the existence of such 

 teeth is not incompatible with the absence of inter- 

 maxillary bones. 



The skin of this species is smooth and without 

 folds, though there are more lines traceable on those 

 parts where the folds are upon the others ; and Bruce 

 (we believe) mentions that some, at least of those in 

 the interior of Abyssinia, have decided folds on the 

 skin, and the anterior or longer horn much com- 

 pressed laterally. The base of the anterior horn is 

 placed farther towards the extremity of the nose than 

 that of the single horn ; the flexible and prehensile 

 part of the upper lip begins nearly at it ; and the arch 

 of the nasal horns brings it nearly on the same plane 

 with the eves. This anterior horn is conical and 

 sharp-pointed, about two feet in length, and curvino- 

 slightly backwards for the whole of its length. The 

 second horn is situated a little above this one, and 

 over the eyes, with its base in a sort of depression of 

 the frontal line. This one is nearly straight, and not 

 above half the length of the first one ; but it stands on 

 a base of equal dimensions, and is therefore the 

 stronger instrument of the two, though not the more 

 formidable in appearance. 



It is considerably larger than the Indian rhinoceros, 

 being found as long as twelve feet, or even more. 

 One measured by Mr. Burchell was eleven feet two 

 inches along the mesial line, and eight feet four inches 

 in the circumference of the body. The tail was 

 compressed laterally toward the distal extremity, and 

 measured one foot eight inches. These are probably 

 the proportions of the animal in all the varieties of its 

 size ; but there are many of larger dimensions than 

 those that have been named. Burchell states, upon 

 the authority of the natives of southern Africa, that 

 there is another species found in the interior different 

 from that which is met with nearer the sea, being much 

 larger in its dimensions, and feeding on grass; whereas 

 the one commonly observed nearer the coast feeds 

 on the leaves and tender twigs of trees. This is not 

 impossible ; but it is quite as philosophical to suppose 

 that the enlarged size may be the result of richer pas- 

 tures than the animal meets with near the sea ; and 

 this is rendered the more likely from its being known 

 that the size of the Indian rhinoceros depends a good 

 deal upon the nature of its pasture. As to the one 

 living upon coarser food than the other, that proves 

 nothing as to difference of species ; for every grazing 

 animal lives upon the finest and most succulent food 

 that it can procure ; and we have evidence not only 

 that the Indian rhinoceros prefers succulent vege- 

 tables to those which are hard and coarse, but that it 

 prefers sugar to these. The vast size which this ani- 

 mal of the interior of southern Africa is said to attain, 

 and especially the largeness of the head and the breadth 

 of the prehensile lip, certainly are differences ; but the 

 substantial characters are so much the same, that we 



