MAMMALS OK HORNKO. 63 



This is the smallest of living rhinoceroses and the most 

 liairy, the greater part of the body being thinly clad with 

 hair of some length, and there being hair of considerable 

 though varying length on the ears and tail. The two horns 

 are some distance apart at the base ; both are slender above, 

 and the anterior horn, in fine specimens, is elongate and curved 

 backwards. The skin is usually rough and grand ular ; the 

 folds, though much less marked than in the one-horned 

 species, are still existent, but only that behind the shoulders 

 is continued across the back. Incisors in adults |, the lower 

 pair lateral, large, and pointed ; sometimes lost in old animals. 



Colour \^arying from earthy-brown to almost black ; 

 hair of body brown or black. 



Dimensions — Soiuewhat variable. The type of /v. la.siotis 

 was 4-ft. 4-in. high at the shoulder, and 8 feet long from 

 snout to root of tail ; its weight about 2000 lbs. ( ^Indcvshu ) . 

 An old female from Malacca was only 3-ft. 8-in. high. The 

 average height of adults is probably 4 feet to 4 feet 6-in. 

 The largest known specimen of the anterior horn measures 

 32 inches over the cur\-e. Skidl 20 inches in basal length, 

 11*25 ^" zygomatic breadth. 



Varieties — Specimens from Chittagong and Malacca were 

 living at the same time in the Zoological Society's Gardens, 

 London, in 1872 ; and the former was distinguished by vSclater 

 as A^. lasihtis on account of its larger size, paler and browner 

 colour, smoother skin, longer, finer, and more rufescent hair, 

 shorter and more tufted tail, by the ears having a fringe of 

 long hair but being naked inside, and abo\e all by the much 

 greater breadth of the head. Unquestionably the differences 

 are considerable ; but by far the most remarkable — the shape 

 of the head — was shown by Blyth to be variable in both 

 A', unicornis and R. sondaicus^ for he figured and described a 

 broad and a narrow type of each (J. A. S. B. xxxi, p. 156, 

 pis. i-iv) as well as of R. Siunatrensis. The other distinctions 

 scarcely appear to me of specific value, and I am inclined to j'i f^"^ 

 regard the two forms as varieties only. 



Habits — Very similar to those of the other species ; this 

 rhinoceros inhabits forests and ascends hills to a considerable 

 elevation, having been observed 4000 feet above the sea in 

 Tenasserim by Tickell. It is a shy and timid animal, but 

 easily tamed even when adult./' The horn is valued by the 

 Chinese for the purpose of medicine ; and it is occasionally met 

 with in the interior of Borneo, but it is rare in the low 

 country. 



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