CHAPTER XVI 



THE RHINOCEROS 



THE " unicorn " of the ancients has been one of those animals that 

 appear to defy the attacks of man. It is thus descried by 

 Cuvier : " They are large animals, with each foot divided into 

 three toes ; and the nasal bones, very thick and united into a kind 

 of arch, support a solid horn, which adheres to the skin, and is 

 composed of a fibrous and horny substance, resembling agglutinated 

 hairs. They are naturally stupid and ferocious ; frequent marshy 

 places; subsist upon herbage and the branches of trees; have a 

 simple stomach, very long intestines, and a great coecum. 



" The Indian rhinoceros. (Rh. Indicus, Cuv.) In addition to 

 its twenty grinders, this species has two stout incisive teeth in each 

 jaw, together with two other intermediate smaller ones below, and 

 two, still more diminutive, outside of its upper incisors. It has 

 only one horn, and its skin is remarkable for the deep folds into 

 which it is thrown behind, and across the shoulders, and before, 

 and across the thighs. 



"The Javanese rhinoceros (2th. Javanus, Cuv.), with the great 

 incisors and single horn of the preceding, has fewer folds iu the 

 skin, though one of them on the neck is larger; and what is 

 remarkable, the entire skin is covered with square angular 

 tubercles. 



"The Sumatran rhinoceros (Rh. Sumatrensis, Cuv.), with the 

 same four great incisors of the foregoing, has no folds to the skin, 

 which is besides hairy, and there is a second horn behind the 

 first. 



"The African rhinoceros (Rh. Africanits, Cuv.), or rather 

 rhinoceroses, three species of them being now ascertained. Two 

 horns as in the preceding; and no folds in the skin, nor any incisor 

 teeth, the molars occupying nearly the whole length of the jaw. 

 This deficiency of incisors might warrant a separation from the 



