1876.] DENTAL CHARACTERS OF RHINOCEROSES. 451 



Rhinoceros, on the larger and lighter-coloured individual, retaining 

 the name of R. sumatrensis for the smaller one, of which we have 

 recently received a second example. 



This determination has been called in question by Dr. Gray ; and 

 there are certainly some difficulties in deciding which of the two is 

 the original R. sumatrensis of Cuvier (R. A. 181/), founded on Bell's 

 description and figure in the 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1793, 

 as that animal, if correctly drawn, must have been in some respects 

 intermediate between our two living forms. On the whole, however, 

 I am most inclined to think that the small and dark species (Dr. 

 Gray's Ceratorhinus niger) is the nearest to Bell's Sumatran Rhino- 

 ceros, which is the view taken by Mr. Sclater. There is a skull in 

 the Museum of the College of Surgeons (No. 2936), presented by Sir 

 Joseph Banks, which is stated in the first edition of the Osteological 

 Catalogue (1831) to have been the original of that figured by 

 Bell in the ' Philosophical Transactions.' If this could he proved 

 to be the case, it would satisfactorily determine the cranial characters 

 of the true R. sumatrensis ; but the discrepancies between the figure 

 and the skull are so great* that, with every allowance for inaccuracy 

 on the artist's part, it is impossible to believe that they could be in- 

 tended for the same ; and, indeed, the author of the second Catalogue 

 (1853) appears to have come to this conclusion, as the reference to 

 the Phil. Trans, is omitted in the description of the specimen. It 

 is, however, extremely probable that the skull in question may have 

 been sent to Sir J. Banks by Bell, as the latter had more than one 

 specimen and was in communication with Sir Joseph, who presented 

 his memoir to the Royal Society ; and therefore it may fairly be 

 regarded as a representative of the same species. 



As long as the type of Sclater's R. lasiotis lives, the important 

 question as to whether any osteological or dental characters are 

 connected with the differences of external appearance cannot be 

 determined ; and as my present purpose is only with such characters, 

 I must leave it out of consideration, and return to the eight skulls, 

 four in the College of Surgeons, and four in the British Museum, 

 that are available for examination. 



Of those in the first-named collection, three are probably from 

 Sumatra, having been presented by Sir Stamford Raffles ; and the 

 other is the one just mentioned, given by Sir Joseph Banks, probably 

 also from Sumatra. 



Of those in the British Museum, the locality of one is not recorded ; 

 one is from Pegu, having been purchased from Mr. Theobald ; one is 

 from Borneo, as previously mentioned ; and the last is from the small 

 dark-coloured animal, from Malacca, which died in the Society's 

 Gardens in 1872, an aged female f. This differs from all the others 

 in having no lower incisor teeth. Unless, as is probable, this is an 



* Chiefly as regards age, as shown by the teeth, and not differences of any 

 specific value. 



t See Mr. Garrod's notes on its anatomy, P. Z. S. 1873, p. 92, where the 

 remarkable difference between the structure of the mucous membrane of the 

 intestine and that of B. unicornis is described. II is interesting to note 



