32 



The Perissodactyla — Rhinoceros, etc. 



The Rhino- 

 ceros. 

 Pier-cases, 

 Nos. 6, 7, 

 and 8, and 

 Table-case, 

 No. 4. 



(as in the oxen), but are only dermal appendages, and entirely 

 composed of longitudinal fibres, like hairs, cemented together ; 

 they are seldom preserved in a fossil state,* but the surfaces 

 of the nasal and frontal bones show traces of the roughened 

 scars where the horns have been attached to the skin. In order 



Fig. 39. — Skull and lower Jaw of Rhinoceros leptorhinui (Owen), from the Pleistocene 

 Brick-earth of the Thames Valley, Ilford, Essex. (See Pier-case, No. 6.) 



The 



Tichorhine 



Rhinoceros. 



to give strength to the nasal bones which support the horns, 

 which were used as weapons of offence, the division between the 

 nostrils (usually more or less cartilaginous) was hardened by 

 the addition of bony matter, so as to form a strong septum 

 resembling a T-girder in construction. 



The Tichorhine Rhinoceros is generally known as the 

 " Woolly Rhinoceros," from having a smooth skin without folds, 

 covered with a fine curly and a coarse hairy coat, like the 

 " Mammoth ;" it had two horns, one very large. Its body has 

 been found preserved in the most wonderful manner, in frozen 

 soil in Siberia, with the skin, the horns, the hair, and even 

 the flesh still undecomposed. It was once a denizen of this 

 country, and it is the remains of this species which have been 

 most commonly met with in limestone caves. In Pier-case No. 6 

 are placed three teeth and a portion of a skull, discovered in 

 1668, in digging a well at Chartham, Kent. The fragments 

 have a special interest, being the subjects of the first notice of 



* In Pier-case 6, a specimen of the horn of the Woolly Rhinoceros is 

 exhibited. 



