OCR Text |
Show 1867.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE RHINOCEROTIDAE. 1029 binder nasal opening. The skull is 12 inches from the intermaxillary to the convexity of the condyle; the teeth-line is 4^ inches long. The facial portion (that is, the skull from the front of the intermaxillary to the front edge of the internal nostril) is only two-fifths of the entire length ; it is the same length as from the front edge of the internal nostril to the suture between the basisphenoid and the basioccipital bone. Length from interma.xillary to front edge of internal nostril or end of palate 4 inches 7 lines, from end of palate to convexity of occipital condyle 7| inches. The intermaxillary of one side is lost; the other has a narrow lower edge, not showing any appearance of cutting-teeth. The nearly hemispherical prominence on the nose is hollow, with thin even parietes ; the cavity extends far back, and is open behind. The face, from end of nasal to the front edge of the orbit, is shorter than the part of the skull behind it, being from front end of nasal to front edge of orbit 5 inches 4 lines, from front edge of orbit to occipital crest 7 inches 2 lines. Nasal bones short and broad, being about two-sevenths of the entire length of the skull to the occipital crest. The lower jaw shows four grinders and a cavity behind the fourth ; the second and third grinders are most developed, raised above the alveolus, and furnished with a smooth enamel edge; the first small grinder is just showing, as is also the case with the fourth grinder, which is rather more developed than the front one ; neither of these teeth is raised above the edge of the alveolus. The front edges marked with two or three series of small circular pits ; but no cutting-teeth are visible. In the Free Museum at Liverpool is the head of a large specimen, collected by Mr. Burke in Lord Derby's exploring party. The skin of the head is stuffed, and the skull kept separate. An adult skull without the lower jaw is in the Museum of the London Missionary Society in Bloomfield Street, London, E.C, that was obtained by the Rev. John Campbell. The Rev. John Campbell gives a figure of the head of this auimal before the skin was removed in his work entitled * Travels in South Africa, Second Mission' (2 vols. 8vo, London, 1822), where it is called the " head of a Unicorn killed near the City of Mashow " (plate at p. 294 of the second volume). The artist has added a regular series of nearly equal-sized square teeth all along both jaws. This figure is copied in Froriep's ' Notizen' for 1822, at vol. ii. p. 98; and a notice of the skull is given at p. 152 of vol. i. of the same journal. 2. CERATOTHERIUM OSWELLII. Kobaaba. B.M. (horn). The front horn very long, thick at the base, bent back and then forward at the end, the front of the tip worn flat. Tres-grande corne de Rhinoceros, Buffon, N. H. x. t. 8. f. 5. |