HOOK-LIPPED OR BLACK RHINOCEROS 653 
ferred to in natural-history literature as a race, holmwoodi , 
described by Sclater in 1893, and based on two extremely 
long front horns having a length of more than forty inches, 
and obtained by purchase at Zanzibar by Holmwood. The 
describer of the species supposed the horns to belong to a 
distinct race having very long and slender front horns. 
They, however, represent merely the extremes in length of 
several hundred horns which have reached Zanzibar as 
articles of trade accumulated by safaris in the interior of 
the continent. As the rhinoceroses of East Africa are not 
distinguishable by horn characters or by size from those of 
South Africa, the name holmwoodi is at present not applica¬ 
ble to any race. We have examined several skulls of black 
rhinoceroses from South Africa in the British Museum and 
have found them quite indistinguishable from specimens 
from East Africa. 
The black rhinoceros has not received its common 
English name because its coloration is actually blacker 
than that of other species, but rather to contrast it with 
the other African rhinoceros which has been so unfortunate 
as to have the designation of “white” bestowed upon it. 
Under these circumstances we may describe the black rhi¬ 
noceros as slightly blacker than the white one, but both 
would be considered black in color by the average observer. 
The color of the skin of the black rhinoceros, upon close 
scrutiny, is found to vary from a deep neutral gray to black¬ 
ish-brown. The color is uniform over the whole dorsal 
surface, but becomes on the belly and under-parts slightly 
lighter and more grayish. About the groins and the 
axillae it is dull whitish and quite devoid of dark pigment. 
Both sexes are quite alike in color. The calves are usually 
deep neutral gray and usually a shade lighter than their 
parents. The body is absolutely hairless with the excep¬ 
tion of the tips of the ears, the tip of the tail, and the eye¬ 
brows, which parts are clothed by a fringe of black hair. 
The tail is furnished along the two edges of its compressed 
tip by a crest of hair which projects stiffly out in line with 
the compressed surface, the two crests meeting at the tip 
but not forming a tuft distinct from the lateral crests. 
The hair has a length of from 4 to 6 inches and covers 
usually merely the terminal 5 inches of the tail. The hair 
