12 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 6l 



graphs could not be obtained. Finally the female became irritated and 

 charged Kermit. who shot her. Upon dissection, it was found that she 

 contained a lar^e foetus to which she would soon have given birth. 

 The embryo, which already had hard hoofs, differed externally in no 

 way other than in size from its parent. The condition of this specimen 

 was a valuable clue to the rapid breeding of rhinoceroses. The posi- 

 tion held by the large calf, which still accompanied its parent, was 

 about to be filled by a new offspring. From the evidence obtained 

 from the first female shot, and that obtained from this specimen, it is 

 quite evident that in the Lado Enclave rhinoceroses begin to breed 

 while still immature, and that the succession of calves is as rapid as 

 the period of gestation will allow. With the skinners I spent the after- 

 noon skinning the specimen and preparing camp on the spot. During 

 the night we were not visited by a single carnivorous animal. One 

 of the startling peculiarities of this region is its lack of carion-feediiig 

 carnivores. We could in no way account for this, for game was 

 really abundant here. 



Kermit and Grogan, two days later, were more successful with 

 their photographic efforts. Kermit obtained some wonderful photo- 

 graphs of a female and a half-grown calf. This female had a long 

 front horn which projected forward to such an extent that in feeding 

 the tip rested on the ground. This is a peculiarity possessed only by 

 some females. The front horn normally is curved backward as in the 

 black species. Owing to the short distance at which it was necessary 

 to take the photographs, this female became so irritated that she 

 charged the camera and Kermit found it necessary to shoot her. 

 The unskinned head was brought into camp for preservation. The 

 front horn measured 293^ inches in length and exceeded by five inches 

 the longest one obtained previously. 



Enough rhinoceroses had now been collected. The succeeding 

 days were devoted to elephant and buffalo hunting in the vicinity of 

 Chief Sururu's village. The village was situated some 10 miles west 

 of the Nile in scattered bush country near a small stream. Some 

 50 members of the Aluru tribe lived here within the walls of a stout 

 thorn boma or hedge. They were an agricultural people who raised 

 maize, sweet potatoes, and millet. In returning from the vicinity of 

 this village on the 29th, the Colonel met an exceptionally long-horned 

 rhinoceros which he killed. Upon examination the horn was found 

 to be 25 inches long, the second longest in the collection. This com- 

 pleted the collection of rhinoceroses. We now had six complete 

 specimens consisting of the entire skins and skeletons ; three heads, 



