112 HON. W. DRUMMOND ON AFRICAN RHINOCEROSES. [Jan. 18, 



in favour of this view, and of the interbreeding of R. simus and R. 

 oswelli ; while it is worthy of note that Livingstone mentions having 

 seen somewhere near the Zambesi a " black " Rhinoceros with a 

 horn like that of R. oswelli — a statement which proves the possibility 

 of the accidental occurrence of such a peculiarity as the inter- 

 breeding of R. oswelli and any of the species known as the " black " 

 is too incredible to be taken into serious consideration. It is, how- 

 ever, not possible to settle this point until it can be proved whether 

 R. simus and R. osivellii do or do not interbreed ; and I may there- 

 fore pass on to the next species. 



I may first observe that in using the word R. bicornis for this in 

 common with the next species, I do so under correction, and for the 

 reason that while unable to say with certainty which has been 

 hitherto referred to by different travellers under that name, I think 

 it very probable that both have been so, though they differ so greatly 

 that I cannot but wonder at this being the case, and can only account 

 for it by the fact, which I have myself noticed, that where the one 

 species is rare the other is common, and vice versd. I will commence 

 by describing the larger of the two, the one known on the east as 

 the Kulumane, and up to the Zambesi as the Common Black Rhino- 

 ceros. This animal does not, I am inclined to believe, on an average 

 exceed R. keitloa in size, though I have killed individual specimens 

 larger than any I have seen of the latter ; it, however, differs from it 

 in its horns, which, though following the conformation of R. simus, 

 never attain to the same size. Their average length in bulls is about 

 18 inches for the anterior, and 8 inches for the posterior, the cir- 

 cumference of the base of the larger horn being about 18 inches; 

 while in cows, which in all the species have longer and more slender 

 horns, the front one measures 22 inches, and about 16 inches at the 

 base, the back one being about 12 inches in length. It is also 

 worthy of note that the length of the horn in all the black species 

 seldom varies in adults more than 3 or 4 inches, while in both the 

 white a difference of a foot may not uncommonly be found. I have 

 already mentioned when speaking of R. keitloa that the species now 

 under discussion possesses, though in a less marked degree, the 

 peculiar snout and upper lip characteristic of the three " black " 

 species ; and this leads me to the cause of such a provision of nature. 

 R. bicornis minor and R. keitloa live, so far as my experience goes, 

 entirely on the leaves and branches of trees ; and this remarkable lip 

 acts much in the same manner as the trunk of an Elephant in 

 drawing their food towards their mouths. R. bicornis major, how- 

 ever, though living partly (and I should say chiefly) on the same, 

 also consumes, like R. simus, large quantities of grass ; and therefore 

 its snout possesses the characteristics of both. I have frequently 

 seen them browsing on the grass ; but the possession for a few days 

 of a young calf of this species afforded me an unusually good oppor- 

 tunity of studying their habits and favourite food. Its mother had 

 been killed on the banks of the Pongolo by one of my hunters ; and 

 the calf had, as is often the case, remained by the carcass during the 

 following night, where we captured it next morning, and after con- 



