CLASS I. MAMMALIA: 
ORDER 11. PACHYDERMATA. 
637 
drinking-cups, to the latter of Avhich the eastern nations attribute the power of indicating the 
presence of poison in any fluid that may be put into them. Little more than twenty years ago 
only four living species belonging to this family were known, but the number has since been in- 
creased to seven, and Dr. Gray has very recently described the horns of what appear to be two 
other species, distinct from any of those previously known. 
Genus RHINOCEROS : Rhinoceros. — Of this, the only genus, there are several species. The 
most celebrated is the Indian Rhinoceros, R. unicornis of Linnasus, R. Indicus of F. Cuvier. Of 
this the head and neck are rather short ; the eye is small and lateral, and the animal cannot see 
in front, more particularly when the horn is full-groAvn, as it stands in the way of vision. The 
body is about nine feet long and five feet high ; in its structure it is peculiarly massive, heavy, 
and hog-like, and often weighs six thousand pounds. It has a single horn from two to three 
feet long. The skin is of an earth-color, hard and thick, and often turns a musket bullet; its sur- 
face is rough and mammillated, especially on the croup and down the fore-shoulders ; its folds 
are very distinct, and resemble plate armor. It is almost Avholly destitute of hair, except at the 
tip of the tail and on the margins of the ears. This species inhabits Hindostan, Siam, and Cochin 
China ; shady and marshy places in the neighborhood of rivers being its chosen haunts. It is 
fond of wallowing in the mire somewhat in the manner of hogs. Its food consists of grass and 
the branches of trees. The flesh is not unpalatable. 
This powerful animal, living amid the tall, rank vegetation of the jungles of India, and especi- 
ally along the marshy borders of the Ganges, the Burrampooter, and other great rivers, can only 
be hunted with the aid of elephants. They are usually found in small herds of four to six, led on 
by the most powerful among the troop. Their first instinct is to fly from such an attack, but if 
hard pressed they rush upon the elephants and seek to thrust the nose beneath the belly and rip 
them np by a fierce toss of the horn. The elephants, however, avoid this movement, and turning 
the back, receive the shock in that quarter, usually with little damage. Often, however, the im- 
petus of the rhinoceros precipitates the elephant in a headlong plunge to the ground, and finding 
this to succeed, he will repeat the operation several times in succession. Formerly it was found 
that the hide of the rhinoceros was impenetrable to ordinary musket-balls ; they are now easily- 
brought down by larger and harder bullets. 
The Indian Rhinoceros is that usually brought to Europe and America, and which we are 
familiar with in the menageries ; it is also that which is best known in history. The Romans 
became acquainted with it toward the close of the republic, and Pompey introduced it into the 
circus. It also figured in the triumphal procession of Augustus with Cleopatra — the beautiful 
Queen of Egypt and the hoggish rhinoceros combining to swell the pomp of the victor ! Repre- 
sentations of this animal also appear on various coins of this period, and in the palestrian mo- 
saics of Rome. In the fanciful tales of the Arabian Nights a curious passage tells us that the 
rhinoceros fought with the elephant, pierced his belly with his horn, and carried him ofi" on his 
head; but the fat and the blood filled his eyes and rendered him entirely blind, so that he fell 
prostrate on the earth. In this state of things a huge Roc came and carried them both off" to his 
young ones in his prodigious talons. It is curious to trace the threads of truth even in the wild- 
est popular fiction : the manner of fighting here imputed to the rhinoceros is according to nature, 
and as to the Roc— a bird as big as a village windmill — late discoveries have shown the bones of 
extinct species twelve or fourteen feet high, the traditions of which may well have been wrought 
into this gigantic feathered monster. 
The Javan Rhinoceros, R. Javanus, formerly confounded with the preceding, greatly resem- 
bles it, and has but one horn ; it is, however, somewhat smaller, rather more hairy, has a smaller 
head, with a more sharpened muzzle, and the flexible lip, especially, being more attenuated. The 
folds are less prominent, and around the neck are nearly obliterated ; the tubercles of the skin 
are smaller and more angular. It is called WaraJc by the Javanese and Badak by the Malays. 
It is a native of Java. 
The SuMATRAN Rhinoceros, R. Stimatrensis, is even somewhat smaller than the preceding; 
it has two horns, the first long and bent backward, the second, placed a little forward of the eyes, 
smooth and pyramidal. The skin is less rough than in the preceding species, and the folds less 
