XVI 
RHINOCEROS 
89 
Cuvier to exhibit the peculiar varieties of this 
species. His Rh . simus is the white rhinoceros of 
Southern Africa. This does not exist north of the 
equator. The peculiar form of lip to which the 
great naturalist directs attention proves, being broad 
and rounded, that the animal is a grass-eater, in 
which it differs from those with prehensile lips, 
which feed upon the extreme ends of twigs and 
tender branches ; to gather these, they require an 
embryo proboscis, which the prehensile lip actually 
represents, and the next stage of evolution may 
be seen in the development of the same 
member in the tapir. Cuvier omits to describe 
the peculiarity of the molars of the prehensile lip 
varieties; these teeth have sharp overlapping 
cutting edges, which, when the jaws are closed, 
exactly represent the action of a pair of shears. 
The prehensile lip catches a bunch of twigs, and 
forming them into a compact bundle, introduces it 
into the mouth ; the shear-like teeth then cut it off 
as neatly as though pruned with a switching-hook. 
There has been a great diversity of opinion 
concerning the varieties of rhinoceros, and I feel 
convinced that it cannot be solely determined by 
the length or shape of horns; these differ as much 
as the horns of stags, although the animals belong 
to the same species. The great white rhinoceros is 
a distinct species, which is marked by the blunt 
muzzle, the rounded and non-prehensile lip, the 
shape of the head, the enormous size, and the 
extraordinary length of the horn. 
