446 



NATURE 



[April g, 1874 



the Greek word hahfua, twelve ; that dodecuple oscilla- 

 tion generally takes place in the second week of the month, 

 but it is not equally marked every month, and besides it 

 is not true to say that it is always exhibited by a depres- 

 sion of the mean temperature. 



The November dodecuole oscillation decidedly exhibits 

 a warming effect. February, March, and May have, on 

 the contrary, a cooling effect. For centuries May and 

 November were observed and noted as the " Saints de 

 Glace " of the spring and Martinmas summer. But other 

 oscillations, viz. February and March, which are generally 

 very cold, were unnoticed. 



The range of the oscillations, as well as their exact 

 position i/i time, are different for different years, very 

 probably because there is more than one single law in 

 operation to produce them. Happily M. Charles Sainte- 

 Claire Deville has discovered an indication which enables 

 him to foresee which oscillations are to be the largest or 

 the smallest. 



Each dodecuple thermometrical oscillation is preceded 

 by a similar dodecuple barometrical oscillation. The 

 difference of time between both oscillations is variable, 

 but the ordinary value isyfiv days. Consequently, having 

 noted a large barometrical dodecuple oscillation on 

 March 2, he was certain that by the 8th the regular ther- 

 mometrical dodecuple oscillation for March should appear 

 very decidedly. The deviation of the thermometrical oscil- 

 lation is uncertain, to the extent of four or five days. 



Everything is empirical in this wonderful method of 



announcing future oscillations of the thermometer by the 

 careful observation of the barometer. 



M. Charles Sainte-Claire Deville is of opinion that the 

 phenomenon is owing to the presence of certain cosmical 

 streams of meteoric bodies which may chance to be distri- 

 buted in an irregular manner in the celestial space. These 

 do not always keep just in the same place, owing to mul- 

 tifarious perturbations ; they also vary in breadth, thick- 

 ness, &c. All these assumptions are merely theoretical, 

 but the existence of the dodecuple period in itself is based 

 on pure obser\^ation, and cannot be questioned like the 

 explanation offered for its origin. 



W. DE FONVIELLE 



ON THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE SKIN- 

 FOLDS IN THE ONE-HORNED RHINOCERl 

 IN the two accompanying woodcuts Mr. T. W. Wood 

 has very carefully and accurately mapped out for us 

 the manner in which the peculiar skin-folds, so con- 

 spicuous in both the Indian one-horned rhinoceri, are 

 arranged over the surfaces of their bodies. The sketches 

 were both taken from the specimens now living in the 

 Zoological Gardens, the Indian animal {Rhinoceros uni- 

 cornis) being a fully adult male, presented by Mr. A. Grote 

 in 1864, and the Javan {R. soiidaicus), the not quite full- 

 grown example, of the same sex, just purchased. A fort- 

 night ago (Nature, vol. ix. p. 363) we mentioned some 

 of the most important points by which the two species 



are distinguished, laying stress on what is rendered so 

 much more evident by the sketches we now give, namely, 

 the peculiar manner in which the lateral shoulder-fold — 

 which in the Indian species does not run up the middle 

 line of the back, but is lost over the upper part of the 

 scapula before it reaches the post-scapular transverse fold, 

 as it is continued longitudinally backwards — in Rhino- 

 ceros sondaicus is carried perpendicularly upwards along 

 the middle of the scapular shield, quite to the back, so as 

 to cut off an extra, independent, saddle-shaped, small, 

 median segment, which covers the nape of the neck. The 

 peculiar notch in the post-scapular transverse fold, and 

 the less extent of the longitudinal fold in the gluteal 

 shield in the Javan species, is also very apparent. Another 

 point which is well indicated is the difference in the shape 

 of the upper lip in the two animals, it being short and 

 blunt in R. indicus, whilst it is long, pointed, and semi- 

 prehensile in R. sondaicus. 



The head of the Javan rhinoceros is also proportion- 

 ately smaller, whilst the skin-folds along the inferior sur- 

 face of its neck are more symmetrical and numerous, 

 being arranged so as to appear very like the surface of a 

 coarse three-cord braid. Its skin, especially over the 

 back, is covered with hair to a degree which would hardly 

 have been expected, as in the Indian species there is but 

 little hair to be seen. The ears are also fringed, much in 

 the same way that the>- are in Rhinoceros lasiotis and R. 

 suma/ranus, the two Asiatic two-horned species. 



The two sketches are made of one size to facilitate com- 



parison, but it must be borne in mind that the Javan 

 animal never reaches anything like the bulk of its Indian 

 ally. It is also almost certain that its skin never becomes 

 so coarsely tuberculated. 



In rhinoceri kept in confinement there is nothing to be 

 learnt from the shape or length of the horns, because 

 that depends so much on the opportunities which their 

 owners have had of rubbing them down. In the wild 

 state the continual employment of the horn or horns in 

 tossing and dividingcomparativelyyieldingsubstances, such 

 as loose earth and wood, causes them to become pointed, 

 long, and polished, because they wear at the sides almost 

 entirely. But in captivity the seasoned wood, iron, and 

 stone of the cages only break off the tips and leave the 

 sides comparatively unworn, orver}- unequally so ; this is 

 why museum specimens of horns are generally so very 

 unlike those found on exhibited living animals. 



Those who noticed the illustrations we gave two 

 months ago (Nature, vol. ix. p. 227) of the huge Bron- 

 totlierimn ingetis discovered by Prof Marsh, will be struck, 

 on looking at the Javan rhinoceros, v.-ith the general simi- 

 larity in the proportions of the head in the two anirhals. 

 The nose is undoubtedly different, but there is the same 

 extreme shallowness of the frontal and interorbital re- 

 gion, combined with great zygomatic breadth. In Bron- 

 totherium the two expanded symmetrical nasal processes 

 were probably covered with tough skin, like those on the 

 face of the wart-hog, to replace in function the coreless 

 but none the less well-developed horn of the rhinoceros. 



