RHINOCEROS. 



573 



that the natives of the coast and those of the interior 

 call it by different names, yet the animal seems to be 

 the same. The coast name is the general one for 

 the rhinoceros in the language 1 of several Eastern 

 nations, especially the Malays ; and the name in the 

 interior is probably that used by the African negroes, 

 of whom there are still remnants in most of the 

 larger islands to the south-east of Asia, even where 

 the Malays are in possession of all the coasts. If a 

 traveller were to come from a far country where no 

 such animal as a cow were known, and see a cow, 

 and hear its name in England, in the Lowlands of 

 Scotland, and the Scotch Highlands, he would be very 

 apt to conclude that there were three species of the 

 animal, as well as three names ; and we may expect 

 to find much the same mistake made by travellers 

 who visit such countries as Sumatra. 



The Sumatran rhinoceros, in the specimens that have 

 been seen by Europeans, is only between five and six 

 feet in length, and between three and four in its 

 greatest height. It is of course a much less formid- 

 able animal than most of the other species. Its 

 skin is without the decided folds which mark the 

 single-horned ones, and also the wrinkles which 

 more or less pucker the skin of the African species. 

 The skin altogether is softer and thinner than that of 

 the others, and it is much more abundantly supplied 

 with hair. We might suppose this from the thinness of 

 the skin ; and the two circumstances taken in con- 

 junction would lead us to conclude that this species 

 should be obedient to climate ; yet it does not ap- 

 pear to occur except in Sumatra, which is one of the 

 most tropical islands on the surface of our globe, 

 being intersected by the equator in very nearly the 

 middle of its latitudes. 



The colour of this animal is dark brown, by "which 

 it can be at once distinguished from the other rhino- 

 ceri of the East, although it had not two nasal horns, 

 the one of which is sometimes not very conspicuous, 

 especially in the young and the females. Although 

 there are some hairs on the body, there are none on the 

 flat sides of the tail ; but the upper and under edges 

 have them tolerably thick. In the young state there 

 arc four incisors in each jaw, but two of them are lost 

 as the animal approaches the maturity of its growth. 

 In this part of the mouth, therefore, it resembles the 

 other eastern species, and differs from the African, 

 though in the smoothness of the skin and the two horns 

 it more resembles the African. The first horn is 'mo- 

 derately large, although by no means so formidable 

 an instrument as that of the African ; but the second 

 one is always very small, and often little more than 

 rudimental. In the females the first horn is also only 

 a small one. Of the manners of this species little 

 or nothing is known ; but as the cheek teeth are the 

 same in structure as in all the others, it is natural to 

 conclude that the mode of feeding and the food are 

 exactly the same. 



FOSSIL RHINOCERI. The preceding notices con- 

 tain all the existing species of those curious animals 

 that have hitherto been made out, at least with so 

 much certainty as to entitle them to notice in a short 

 popular list ; so that it remains only to take a very 

 slight glance at those which have once inhabited the 

 earth, but the whole of which are now entombed under 

 its surface. As we have already alluded in a general 

 way to these, and to the probable state of the tem- 

 perate and cold latitudes, when these were inhabited 

 by them, our present observations will be -very few. 



Rhinoceros with partitioned nostrils (72. tichorhinns'). 

 This is the largest of all the fossil species, and appears 

 to have been the most plentiful, and the one which 

 inhabited farthest to the north. Its remains have 

 been found in many parts of Europe, and particularly 

 in France, though perhaps that is owing to the greater 

 attention which has been paid to the fossil remains of 

 animals in that country. They have also been met 

 with in Siberia ; and this is a species of which a pre- 

 served specimen, nearly entire, was found in the ice, 

 in the extreme north of that country, in the year 

 1771. The flesh, the skin, and the hair, were all 

 in such preservation as to afford a perfect knowledge 

 of what the animal had been when in the living state, 

 and the hair was in such abundance and of such a 

 nature as to show that the animal was able to bear 

 the cold of the severest winter. 



This extinct species has a considerable resemblance 

 to the living one now found in Africa ; but still, inde- 

 pendently of its adaptation to a different climate, 

 which of itself would perhaps not be distinction 

 enough, there are other and more essential characters 

 which show it to have been a distinct species. The 

 bones of the head are much more elongated than in 

 the African one ; and, from the size of the discs on 

 the bones which supported their bases, the horns, 

 especially the second one, appear to have been larger. 

 They appear also to have been more actively or 

 powerfully employed, for the nasal bone is supported 

 by a vertical septum or partition, which is not found 

 in any of the living species. Like the African spe- 

 cies, this is without intermaxillary bones, and of course 

 could have had no incisive teeth in the upper jaw 

 when of mature age. From the character of its bones, 

 this must have been a large and powerful animal, 

 equally capable of performing severe labour and de- 

 fending itself against enemies, as for enduring the 

 rigours of the northern winter. 



Rhinoceros with simple nostrils (R. leptorhinus}, 

 This has been altogether a more slender and less 

 powerful animal, and it has not inhabited so far to 

 the north. The south of Europe appears to have 

 been its principal habitat, as the bones have been 

 chiefly found in Italy. From the discs on the bones 

 of the head, it must have had two horns ; but there 

 is no partition to strengthen the nasal bone, and the 

 bones altogether are much more slender in proportion 

 to their length than those of the preceding species. 

 From its southern habitat there is not the slightest 

 chance that any more perfect remains of it will be 

 found than simply the bones. As is the case with 

 the former species, this one is without intermaxillary 

 bones, and consequently must have had no incisor teeth 



Fragments of another species have been found in 

 some of the collections of fossil bones in Germany, 

 which appears to have been of considerable size, and 

 to have been possessed of intermaxillary bones. 

 Having them, it has certainly been different from any 

 of the two preceding ones ; but very few particulars 

 are known respecting it. 



Small Rhinoceros (R. minutus}. The remains of 

 this species have been found in France, and from 

 them it does not appear to have been larger than a 

 common hog. It appears to have been a very ancient 

 species, for the bones have been found at the depth 

 of eighty feet below the present surface of the ground, 

 mingled with those of crocodiles and tortoises. Its 

 incisor teeth appear to have very much resembled 

 those of the rhinoceros of Java. 



