THE RHINOCEROSES. 



425 



Of the three toes on each foot the width of the mid- 

 dle one is nearly double that of cither of the others. 

 The skin is very thick, and in most species of the 

 family is of an almost armor-like toughness. It 

 either envelops the body snugly, with the exception 

 of a few not very prominent folds, or else it is di- 

 vided into several distinct shields, separated by deep 

 furrows. The loose skin of these interstices affords 

 the only means of mobility, for the shields may be 

 made to touch or even overlap each other at these 

 furrows, which are composed of a thinner and much 

 more flexible skin than that which forms the shields. 

 Deep wrinkles surround the eyes and mouth, and in 

 the latter instance impart an unexpected degree of 

 flexibility to the clumsy appearing, but actually very 

 mobile lips. A network of shallow depressions cross 



in individual instances and not as a general rule, the 

 superficial skin exhibits horny excrescences attain- 

 ing the height of an inch or thereabouts, on different 

 portions of the body, but usually on the head. 



The bony skeleton is of a clumsy, vigorous struct- 

 ure. In respect to dentition it may be said that 

 the canines are absent; the African species also lack 

 the incisors in both jaws, but the Asiatic species 

 usually show them during their entire life. The re- 

 maining teeth consist of seven molars on both sides 

 of each jaw. 



The Rhinoceroses, which at present inhabit the 

 Oriental and Ethiopian belts, were more widely 

 distributed in former times, their earlier range in- 

 cluding southern Germany, France, England, Rus- 

 sia and Siberia. Among the extinct species which 



■ l ^-^ERICAN TAPIRS. Here is a group of these South American animals luxuriating in the native swamps which furnish them plentifully 



with the leaves, shoots and fruits which form their food. The clumsy body, head and proboscis-like snout of the adults are shown, and the peculiar spots 

 and stripes of the infant Tapir are also portrayed. These markings disappear with maturity. (Tapirus amcricanus.) 



each other on the skin, separating it into elevations 

 of very uniform shape, apparently arranged into a 

 pattern of regular design; and which forms, on the 

 thick, shield-like portions of the hide, an especially 

 odd but attractive adornment. The hairy covering 

 of the Rhinoceroses is usually restricted to a moder- 

 ately long fringe upon the ear margins and upon the 

 broadly-compressed extremity of the tail, but in a 

 few varieties it also extends to several spots on the 

 skin. The horns, which have their foundations in, 

 and are really developments of the superficial skin, 

 consist of extremely fine, round or angular fibres of 

 horny tissue arranged in parallel lines and forming 

 hollow cones; and their broad, rounded bases are 

 attached to the thick skin which covers the nasal 

 portion of the face. Not infrequently, though only 



have been classified, one particularly deserves to be 

 mentioned — the two-horned prehistoric Rhinoceros, 

 with a bony nasal partition {Rhinoceros tichorkimts) — 

 because its remains have been found preserved not 

 alone in a few separate bones, but quite complete 

 with skin and hair. In northern Asia, from the Ob 

 to the Straits of Behring, there is no river in the 

 open country on the banks of which the fossil re- 

 mains of prehistoric animals, especially of Elephants, 

 Buffaloes and Rhinoceroses, can not be found. 

 Flower's Classified- Our knowledge of the existing spe- 

 tion of the Rhi- cies has been materially extended 

 noceroses. during recent times, but is even yet 



far from satisfactory. Flower, in the year 1876, sub- 

 jected the family to a new revision and considera- 

 tion. This naturalist distinguishes three main groups 



