5>8 



NA TURE 



{Oct. 24, 1S72 



THE A'/: IV RHINOCEROS 



THE acquisition of a living Rhinoceros belonging 

 to a species hitherto unknown to science, is cer- 

 tainly a remarkable event, and one that may well give 

 comfort to those who may have supposed that the field of 

 zoological discovery is worked out. If so large a beast has 

 hitherto escaped the observation of naturalists, how many 

 smaller animals must there still remain for the zoological 

 explorer. But the truth is that we know less about 

 some of these very bulky animals than those of more mode- 

 rate dimensions, as their very size renders the collection 

 and preparation of specimens of them more difficult. 

 The importation of such monsters in a living state is a 

 still more serious undertaking, and it is only within the 

 last few years that the Zoological Gardens of Europe 

 have become wealthy and enterprising enough to find 

 funds for such expensive luxuries. 



Tlic animal of which we are now speaking, was ori- 

 ginally captured near Chittagong, at the northernmost 

 extremity of the Bay of Bengal, in January 1S6S, by 

 some officers engaged in the supply of elephants for 

 the Indian army. Some natives came into the station, 

 and reported that a rhinoceros had fallen into a quick- 

 sand, at a place about sixteen hours' journey to the south, 

 and had been unable to extricate itself. They had pulled it 

 out by ropes attached to its neck, and had bound it 

 between two trees, but were fearful of its breaking loose. 

 Captain Hood and iVIr. H. W. Wickes accordingly 

 started with eight elephants, and brought the rhinoceros 

 into Chittagong, where she was kept in a stockaded en- 

 closure, " hiving a good bath excavated in the ground, 

 and a comfortable shed attached to it." Hera " Begum," 

 as she was named, remained for nearly four years. 

 Various negociations were entered into between the 

 Zoological Society of London and the c.rpturers, for her 



removal to this country, but these never came to any 

 delinite result. Besides the difficulty of arranging terms 

 at such a distance apart, there seemed to be some 

 question about the true ownership of the animal, whicli 

 created additional embarrassment in the transaction. At 

 length in the autumn of 1S71, Mr. William Jamrach, the 

 well-known dealer in living animals, being personally in 

 Calcutta, was able to conduct the negociations to a suc- 

 cessful result, and on his return to England, in February 

 last, brought the animal with him. Upon her arrival 

 " Begum " was immediately purchased by the Zoological 

 Society, to whom, it was understood, the first ofifer was 

 to be made, for the sum of 1,250/. 



During the transit through Calcutta, this rhinoceros was 

 examined by Dr. John Anderson, the Curator of the 

 Indian Museum in that city. Dr. Anderson, thinking it 

 possible that the animal might not live to reach England, 

 liad some figures of it made Ijv a native artist, and drew 



up same notes on its external characters, which he com- 

 municated to the Zoological Society of London. In 

 these notes, which have been published by the Zoological 

 Society in their Proceedings (P. Z. S., 1872, p. 129), 

 Dr. Anderson supposes the animal to be a Sumatran 

 Rhinoceros {Rhiiuwivs sumatrensis of Cuvier), but 

 comments upon several points in which it seemed to differ 

 from former descriptions of that species, and upon its 

 occurrence so far north of the hitherto known range of 

 that species. When the rhinoceros arrived in London 

 it was likewise referred to RInnoccros siimatycnsis — that 

 being the only known Asiatic species of Rhinoceros with 

 two horns, and was entered under this name in the 

 Zoological Society's register of accessions, and is so 

 spoken of in the new edition of the " Garden Guide." 

 It is likewise mentioned and figured under this name 

 in an article on Rhinoceroses, published in this jour- 

 nal for the 2Sth of March last. The cut there given is 



