RHI 



RHI 



feet, and is a weapon of defence, which 

 almost secures it from every attack. 

 Even the tiger, with all his ferocity, is 

 but very rarely daring enough to assail 

 the rhinoceros. Its upper lip is of con- 

 siderable length and pliability, acting 

 like a species of snout, grasping the 

 shoots of trees and various substances, 

 conveys them to the mouth, and it is ca- 

 pable of extension and contraction at the 

 animal's convenience. The skin is, in 

 some parts, so thick and hard as scarcely 

 to be penetrable by the sharpest sabre, 

 or even by a muske't-ball. These animals 

 are to be found in Bengal, Siam, China, 

 and in several countries of Africa ; but 

 are far less numerous than the elephant, 

 and of sequestered solitary habits. The 

 female produces only one at a birth ; and 

 at the age of two years the horn is only 

 an inch long, and at six, only of the 

 length of nine inches. The rhinoceros is 

 not ferocious unless when provoked, 

 when he exhibits paroxisms of rage and 

 madness, and is highly dangerous to those 

 who encounter him. He runs with great 

 swiftness, and rushes through brakes 

 and woods with an energy to which every 

 thing yields. It is generally, however, 

 quiet and inoffensive. Its food consists 

 entirely of vegetables, the tender 

 branches of trees, and succulent herbage, 

 of which it will devour immense quanti- 

 ties. It delights in retired and cool situa- 

 tions, near lakes and streams, and ap- 

 pears to derive one of the highest satis- 

 factions from the practice of rolling and 

 wallowing in mud ; in this respect bear- 

 ing a striking resemblance to the hog. 



This animal was exhibited, by Augus- 

 tus, to the Romans, and is supposed to be 

 the unicorn of the scripture, as it pos- 

 sesses the properties ascribed to that 

 animal, of magnitude, strength, and swift- 

 ness, in addition to that' peculiarity of 

 a single horn, which may be considered 

 as establishing their identity. This ani- 

 mal can distinguish, by its sight, only 

 what is directly before it, and always, 

 when pursued, takes the course immedi- 

 ately before him, almost without the 

 slightest deviation from a right line, re- 

 moving every impediment. Its sense of 

 smelling is very acute, and also of hear- 

 ing, and, on both these accounts, the 

 hunters approach him against the wind. 

 In general, they watch Ins lying down to 

 sleep, when, advancing with the greatest 

 circumspection, they discharge their 

 muskets into his belly. The flesh is eaten 

 both in Africa and India. 



R. bicornis, or the two-horned rhinoce- 

 ros, is similar in size and manners to the 



former, and is principally 

 from it by having two horns on its nose ; 

 the tint being always the largesl,and some- 

 times a foot and a half in length. These 

 horny substances are said to be loose 

 when the animal reposes, or is calm, but 

 to be erected irremoveably when he is 

 highly agitated ; a circumstance asserted 

 by Dr. Sparman, though ridiculed by Mr. 

 Bruce. It is, however, observed by Dr. 

 Shaw, that, on inspection of the horns and 

 the skin on which they are seated, they 

 do not appear h'rmly attached to the 

 bone of the cranium. This animal, after 

 having devoured the foliage of trees, rips 

 up their trunks, and dividing them with 

 his horns into a sort of laths, fills his im- 

 mense jaws with these fruits of his labour, 

 and masticates them with as much facili- 

 ty as an ox does grass. Its swiftness is 

 great considering its bulk, but its securi- 

 ty arises not so much from speed as from 

 its directing its course to thickets and 

 woods, where sapless trees are broken by 

 its violence, and green ones, after yielding 

 to it, recoil upon the pursuers, and strike 

 them from their horns sometimes with fatal 

 consequences. In an open plain the 

 horse speedily overtakes him, on which 

 he makes a thrust with his horn at the 

 horse, which the latter easily evades by 

 its agility. A man at this moment drops 

 from behind the chief horseman, with a 

 spear, and, as the rhinoceros sees only 

 immediately before him, wounds him hi 

 the tendons of his heels, and thus totally 

 disables him from further motion. He is 

 also occasionally taken by night while 

 rolling himself in mire, in which he ap- 

 pears to experience a rapture which de- 

 prives him of all suspicion and vigilance , 

 while thus abandoning himself to trans- 

 port, the hunters approach and fix a mor- 

 tal wound, by their spears or muskets, in 

 his belly. See Mammalia, Plate XV11I 

 fig. 5. 



RHINO M ACER, in natural history, a 

 genus of insects of the order Coleoptera. 

 Antennae setaceous, seated on the snout ; 

 four feelers, growing thicker towards 

 the end, the last joint truncate. There 

 are three species, found in Italy and Swe- 

 den. 



RHIZOBOLUS, in botany, a genus o? 

 the Polyandria Tetragynia class and or- 

 der. Essential character : calyx, half 

 five-cleft ; petals five ; germ four-lobed a 

 superior ; nuts four, one-celled, one-seed- 

 ed. There are two species, TVZ li buty- 

 rostts, and R. tuberculosus, both native* 

 of Guiana. 



