Part 78 (1/2)

This rhinoceros seems to be found at all elevations, like the Sumatran one which was found by General Fytche at an alt.i.tude of 4000 feet; it is much more of a forester than the last. Blyth and Jerdon suppose it to be the same as the species hunted by the Moghul Emperor Baber on the banks of the Indus.

_GENUS CERATORHINUS_.

”The skin divided into s.h.i.+elds by deep folds; the lumbar fold rudimentary, short, only occupying the middle of the s.p.a.ce between the groin and the back; horns two, the front longer, curved backward, the hinder small; conical skull; forehead narrow, flat; the upper part of the nose on each side of the horns narrow, rounded, sub-cylindrical; the occipital region erect, the part near the condyles rather concave; the occipital condyle short, broad, oblong, placed obliquely inferior, scarcely prominent; lachrymal bone very large, irregular shaped.”--_Dr. Gray_, 'P. Z. S.' 1867, p. 1021.

NO. 431. RHINOCEROS _vel_ CERATORHINUS (CROSSI?) LASIOTIS.

_The Ear-fringed Rhinoceros_.

HABITAT.--Arakan, Tena.s.serim provinces; one was caught near Chittagong in 1868.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Rhinoceros lasiotis_. (_R. Indicus_ and _R.

Sondaicus_ in the distance.)]

DESCRIPTION.--A thinner hide than with the preceding, and not tuberculated; the folds also are fewer in number; there is one great groove behind the shoulder-blades, and a less conspicuous one on the flank, and some slight folds about the neck and top of the limbs; the horns are two in number, the posterior one being the centre of the nose behind the anterior one, and almost over the anterior corner of the eye; the body (of a young specimen) is covered with long, fine, reddish hair, and the posterior margins of the ears have very long fringes of the same; the tail is short and hairy.

A young specimen of this animal (of which there is an excellent coloured plate in 'P. Z. S.' 1872, p. 494) was captured in 1868 in Chittagong. She had got into a quicksand, and had exhausted herself by floundering about. The natives contrived to attach two ropes to her neck, and, hauling her out, managed to make her fast to a tree.

Next morning they found her so refreshed and vigorous that they were afraid to do anything more to her, and so sent messengers to the magistrate of Chittagong to report the capture. The same evening Captain Hood and Mr. Wickes started with eight elephants to secure the prize, and after a march of sixteen hours to the south of Chittagong, they came up to the animal. The elephants at first sight bolted, but were brought back by considerable exertion, and the rhinoceros was made fast to one by a rope. The poor creature roared with fright, and a second stampede ensued, in which luckily the rope slipped off the leg of the rhinoceros to which it was attached.

Ultimately she was secured between two elephants and marched into Chittagong, where she soon got very tame. Eventually she was sent to England, and was purchased by the Zoological Society for 1250 pounds--a very handsome price, owing doubtless to the rarity of the specimen.

NO. 432. RHINOCEROS _vel_ CERATORHINUS SUMATRENSIS.

_The Sumatran Rhinoceros_.

NATIVE NAMES.--_Kyen-shan_, Burmese; _Bodok_, Malayan.

HABITAT.--Tena.s.serim provinces; Burmah, extending into Siam; the Malayan peninsula and Sumatra.

DESCRIPTION.--A smaller animal than the preceding, with a hard, black, rough, bristly skin; a deep fold behind the shoulder; ears set closer than in the last species, and filled with black hair internally; the muzzle in front of the first horn is broader; the horns are two in number, and attain a good size, curving, but slightly, backward; the tail is conspicuously longer than in _R. lasiotis_, and is tapering and not tufted. There is a well drawn and coloured plate of this species in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society'

for 1872, p. 794, as also several engravings showing the heads of the two animals in juxtaposition.

SIZE.--About 3 feet 8 inches in height at the shoulder.

At first it was considered that _R. lasiotis_ was of this species, and as such it was described and sent to England; but on the subsequent arrival of a genuine _R. Sumatrensis_ from Malacca it was apparent that _R. lasiotis_ was quite distinct. The latter is of larger size, lighter colour, with wide-set ears and a tufted tail.

The former is smaller, darker, with narrow-set ears and a long tapering semi-nude tail.[31] The Society paid Mr. Jamrach 600 pounds in 1872 for the female specimen from Malacca, which settled the question of separate species. A young _R. Sumatrensis_ was born in the Victoria Docks in London on December 7th, 1872, on board the steams.h.i.+p _Orchis_. There is a coloured sketch of the little one in the 'P. Z. S.' for 1873, and an interesting account of it and the mother by Mr. Bartlett, the Superintendent of the Society's Gardens.

From the circ.u.mstances of the capture of the mother it appears that the period of gestation of the rhinoceros is about the same as that of the hippopotamus, viz. seven months.

[Footnote 31: There is a very interesting letter in _The Asian_ for July 20, 1880, p. 109, from Mr. J. c.o.c.kburn, about _R. Sumatrensis_, of which he considers _R. lasiotis_ merely a variety. He says it has been shot in Cachar.--R. A. S.]

Although the number of species of living rhinoceros is but few, there are a great many fossil species which show that the animal was more plentiful and in greater variety in prehistoric times.

Remains of the woolly rhinoceros (_R. trichorhinus_) have been found, like those of the mammoth, imbedded in ice; it was about eleven and a-half feet in length, and its body was covered with woolly hair.

A specimen found in 1771 or 1772 was entire, and clothed with skin, but so far decomposed as to prevent more than the head and feet being preserved; remains of other fossil species are found throughout Europe, including Great Britain, and also in India. In 'A Sketch of the History of the Fossil Vertebrata of India' by Mr. R. Lydekker, published in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol.

xlix., 1880, will be found the names of eight species of fossil rhinoceros, inclusive of _R. Indicus_, which is found in _recent alluvia_--it is found with two others in the Pleistocene formation, and five others are from the Pleiomiocene.