RHINOCEROS SONDAICUS. 



domestication, I propose here to detail concisely the peculiarities on which the 

 specific distinction is founded, and to add some general remarks on the manners and 

 distribution of this species through the Island. 



The separation of this, from the common Indian species, the Rhinoceros uni- 

 cornis of Linnd, and the Rhinoceros indicus of the R^gne animal, was proposed 

 by the Baron Cuvier, who applied to it the name of Rhinoceros sondaicus. I am 

 acquainted with his account and definition of this species, only by the summary notice 

 published by M. Desmarest in the Encyclopedia ; and this has served for my com- 

 parison. But the decision of M. Cuvier on this subject must be considered conclu- 

 sive. To ascertain and establish the characters of a new species, he was prepared, 

 not only by his unparalleled knowledge as a Zoologist, but also by his previous 

 labours and researches concerning the common Indian, or One-horned Rhinoceros. 

 We owe to him the most complete account that has yet been made public of this 

 species ; it is contained in the Menagerie du Mus. d'Hist. Nat, and illustrated by a 

 beautiful and accurate engraving. The materials I have collected to enable me to 

 contribute to the illustration of this species, consist in some remarks made at 

 Surakarta, in 1817, and in a drawing, prepared under my inspection, by an artist, 

 who, although educated in Java, had acquired considerable proficiency. On the 

 Plate annexed to this article, a careful representation is given of this drawing, which, 

 though deficient in some points that the skilful pencil of Mr. Daniell would have 

 supplied from the living animal, exhibits, with scrupulous accuracy, the form and 

 proportions of our animal. This individual was, by measurement taken in 1817, 

 nine feet long, and four feet three inches high at the rump. The Rhinoceros figured 

 by M. Fred. Cuvier, in the 13th Livraison of the Hist. Nat. des Mammiferes, 

 brought to Europe from the British possessions in India, was higher in proportion 

 to its length, and its form was more unwieldy. The entire length was seven feet, 

 and its height four feet and ten inches. The individual described by M. Georges 

 Cuvier, in the Menag. du Mus. &c. had, according to the dimensions given, a more 

 lengthened form: but the figure exhibits an animal, in comparison with the 

 Rhinoceros sondaicus, of greater bulk, and more gross dimensions. The head 

 of our animal is strongly attenuated to the muzzle, and has a triangu.lar form ; 

 the flexible upper lip is considerably lengthened, and the sides of the head are 

 marked with protuberances, or scutula, resembling those on the body, but no great 

 roughnesses or folds are apparent. The characters therefore, given by M. Cuvier, 

 as far as regard the form of the body and of the head, are confirmed by the 

 drawing, and by the measures taken from life. The marks of distinction 

 afforded by the folds of the external covering, are less evident than those afforded 

 by the form of the body and the attenuated head. The following modifications may. 



