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Show 1024 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE RHINOCEROTIDAE. [Dec. 12, 'Philosophical Transactions' for 1742 and 1743; and the specimens which he figured are now in the British Museum. There is considerable divergence of opinion among travellers respecting the horns of the African Rhinocerotes. Sir Andrew Smith observes, " I do not think that the horns of the same species of African Rhinoceroses are subject to any great variations in respect to relative length."-A. Smith. Capt. Comwallis Harris, on the contrary, after describing the horns of C. bicornis as unequal, says " tbe horns are sometimes nearly of the same length." Further on he observes " that sometimes accident or disease renders the front horn the shortest of the two." Perhaps Capt. Harris had not such a good knowledge of species as Sir Andrew Smith. " The relative length of the horns varies a little in different individuals of R. bicornis; but the hindermost one in both sexes is invariably much the shortest, and in young specimens it is scarcely visible when the other is several inches in length."-A. Smith. " In R. keitloa the young have horns of equal length."-A. Smith. 3. RHINASTER. Black Rhinoceros. Head short, high ; forehead convex ; nose rounded in front. Upper lip with a central conical process. Horns two, unequal. Skin smooth, not divided into shields by plaits. Skull short, high ; the portion of the skull behind the hinder edge of the last or seventh grinder not so long as the portion in front of it, the occiput erect, the upper margin only slightly produced over it; forehead concave, shelving; nasal bones on the sides convex, subspherical above, rounded in front. Tooth-line curved, bent up at each end. Lower jaw thick in front. Shoulder with a more or less developed hunch. "Living in herds; a 'browser,' feeding on leaves and young shoots of trees. It frequents forest and bush country, avoiding grassy plains."-Kirk, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 655. * A. Horns cylindrical, conical, front recurved, hinder short; head short and hicjh, swollen in front; upper lip subtrancate; shoulder-hump rudimentary. Rhinaster. 1. RHINASTER BICORNIS. Bovili. B.M. Horns unequal, cylindrical at the base, and conical, blunt, the hinder smaller, front recurved; shoulder-hunch rudimentary, neck-grooves well marked. " Pale brown ;" upper lip truncated, scarcely produced in the centre. Rhinoceros horn, Parsons, Phil. Trans. 1742, 1/43, t. 3. f. 3, 4. Rhinoceros bicornis, Linn. S. N. i. 104; Sparrm. K. Vet. Akad. Handl. 1778, t. 9 ; A. Smith, 111. Z. S. Africa, t. 2. Rhitiocdros bicorne du Cap, part., Giebel, 200; Cuvier, Oss. Foss. ii. 29, t. 4. f. 7, t. 16. f. 10 ; Blainv. Osteogr. Onguligrades, t. 3, 4 (skull &c.). |