126 



MAMMALIA— ORDER VI.—UNGULATA. 



the latter alternative, the five existing species may be arranged in two 

 divisions, of which one includes the three Oriental forms, and the other the 

 two African. The Oriental rhinoceroses are characterised by possessing 



incisor teeth in both jaws, 





Fig. 69. — Indian Rhinoceros {Rhinoceros unicornis). 



one (or the only) pair in the 

 lower jaw forming sharp, tri- 

 angular, projecting tusks, cap- 

 able of inflicting terrific gashes 

 ■when their owners charge. By 

 far the largest of these is the 

 great Indian rhinoceros (B. 

 unicornis), which is confined 

 to the great grass-jungles of 

 North-Eastern India, and is 

 characterised by its massive 

 but short, single horn, the 

 large bosses on the deeply- 



folded skin, the numerous pleats round the neck, and the complicated 

 structure of the upper molar teeth. The Javan rhinoceros {R. sondaicus), 

 which is a much smaller animal, ranging from Eastern Bengal and the 

 Sandarbans to Burma, the Malay Peninsula, and the islands of Sumatra, 

 Borneo, and Java, differs in the arrangement of the folds of the skin, 

 which lacks the great bosses of the larger species, and likewise by the lower 

 and simpler crowns of the upper molar teeth. The third representative 

 of the Oriental group of the genus is tlie Sumatran rhinoceros (jB. suma- 

 trensis), which ranges from Assam, Ohittagong, and Burma, to the Malay 

 Peninsula, Siam, Sumatra, and Borneo, and is the smallest of the three. 

 Having upper molar teeth of the same type as those of the Javan species, it 

 differs from both that and the Indian rhinoceros in having two horns on tlie 

 head, the foremost of which is often much larger than the single one of either 

 of tlie other Asiatic species. 



The two species of African rhinoceroses differ in that the incisors of the 

 adults are rudimental or wanting in both jaws, and likewise in the absence of 

 foldings in the skin, which covers the body uniformly ; both having two 

 horns. The largest of these is tlie square-mouthed, or Burchell's rhinoceros 

 (E. simus), frequeiitly inappropriately spoken of as the white rhinoceros. 

 This animal, which was formerly met with in enormous numbers to the north 

 of the Orange River, but is now well-nigh exterminated, if, indeed, it be not 

 actually extinct, takes its name from its square and truncated upper-lip. In 

 addition to this, it is characterised by the tall and complex crowns of the 

 upper molar teeth, which present a pattern very similar to that obtaining in 

 the Indian species, as well as by the great length of the front horn, which is 

 frequently found with its tip obliquely abraded, on account of having been 

 pushed along tlie ground as its owner walked. The general colour of the 

 skin is slaty-grey. On the other hand, the common African, or so-called 

 black rhinoceros {B. bicumis), has the prehensile lip characteristic of the 

 other members of the genus, while its front horn does not attain the enor- 

 mous length reached in B. simus, and the upper molars are of simpler struc- 

 ture. This rhinoceros ranges from Abyssinia to the Cape, and differs 

 considerably in habits from the other African species. Possibly a third 

 species may exist in North-Eastern Africa. 



The third and last family of the Odd-toed Ungulates is that of the horses, 



