286 ZOOLOGY. 



muzzle terminates in a truncated snout, adapted for digging 

 up roots, on which they live, in troops, in the forests ; but 

 they show no repugnance to animal food. 



The rhinoceros (Fig. 198) is a very large animal, with a 

 short thick body and short limbs, remarkable for the great 

 thickness of its hide, and for the horn or horns it carries on 

 the nose. The horns are solid, composed of matted hairs, 

 and supported on strong nasal bones, arched and thick ; but 

 these horns have no osseous core, and they move with the 

 integuments. It inhabits the hottest parts of Asia and 

 Africa, and is generally found in the elephant countries. It 

 is ferocious and untameable, and is fond of wallowing in miry 

 places, like the pig (Fig. 199).* 



Fig. 253. Head of a Young Hippopotamus of Southern Africa; 

 from a drawing by Burchell. 



The genus horse, comprising the horse, properly so called, 

 the ass, zebra, and several other species, is characterized by 

 the conformation of the feet, single toed, and covered with a 

 hoof; by six incisives in either jaw, hollowed when young, 

 which hollow disappears with age ; by^ix molars on either 

 side of each jaw, and by a space or bar between the small 

 canine teeth found in the male and the molars, which receives 

 the bit. These canine teeth are small, and peculiar to the 

 male. The eyes of the horse are prominent, his hearing good, 

 upper lip so large as to be used as an instrument of prehen- 

 sion ; nostrils not much dilated ; the body is covered all over 

 with hair, and the neck provided with a mane. The tail is 

 of moderate length, but has long hairs, especially in the 



* The double-horned rhinoceros is peculiar to Africa, and was known to 

 the Romans. After all traces of it were lost to the civilized world, and its 

 very existence doubted by naturalists, it was rediscovered a few years ago 

 by Sparrman, in Southern Africa. R. K. 



