OCR Text |
Show 1867.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE RHINOCEROTIDAE. 1027 4. CERATOTHERIUM. Head elongate, produced behind ; forehead flat; nose very broad, square at the end; upper lip bovine, rounded, Horns two, very unequal, hinder small. Skin smooth, not divided into shields. Shoulder with a well-marked hunch. Skull elongate ; the portion of the skull behind the hinder edge of the last or seventh grinder as long as the one in front of it; occiput erect, the upper margin much produced behind the condyle; forehead concave; nose straight, rounded; nasal bones very broad, convex above, truncated, with a sharp edge in front; lower jaw thick, tapering in front; molars large; teeth line straigbt. The skull of the very young animal has a very convex, nearly hemispherical prominence on the nasals, and is broad and rounded in front; but the prolongation of the hinder part of the skull is shown in the fcetal skull in which the milk-grinders are only just appearing, the proportion of the hinder and anterior portion being nearly the same as in the adult skulls; the occiput is erect, without any marked projecting crest. "The first animal that disappears before firearms."-Kirk, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 655. "Gentle and a 'grazer;' living in open plains, feeding on grass." -A. Smith. 1. CERATOTHERIUM SIMUM. Mahoohoo. B.M. The front horn very long, slender, subcylindrical, recurved ; hinder very small, conical; nose broad, high, square. " Pale grey brown; shoulder, buttocks, and belly darker." The face of the skull from the front edge of the orbit longer than the portion of the skull behind this place. Rhinoceros horn, Parsons, Phil. Trans. 1742, 1743, t. 3. f. 6 (front horn). Rhinoceros simus, Burchell; Blainv. Journ. de Phys. lxxi. 163, t. (head, horns bad); Cuvier, Oss. Foss. ii. 28; Burchell, Travels, ii. 75; A. Smith, Zool. S. A. t. 19 (animal); Cat. S. A. Mus. 9, 1837; Blainv. Osteogr. Onguligrades, t. 4 (skull &c.) ; Duvernoy, Arch, du Mus. vii. t. 2, 3 (skull), t. 8 (skull, junior); Sclater, P. Z. S. 1864, p. 100. R. burchellii, Desm. Mamm. 401. R. simus (Chicore), A. Smith, Rep. 68, 1836; Harris, Sports in S. Africa, p. 371. R. camus, Ham. Smith; Griffith, A. K. v. 746. Rhinaster simus, Gray, List Mam. B. M. 1810; Gerrard, Cat. Bones B. M. 282. 1 Rhinoceros gordonii, Blainv. The Square-nosed or tVhite Rhinoceros (R. simus), Harris, Portraits of Wild Animals of S. A. 97, t. 19 (horns at p. 101). White Rhinoceros or Witte Rhinaster, Colonists, Cape G. H. Chickore or Mohoohoo, Bukeiana and Matabite. Hab. South Africa (Burchell; Dr. A. Smith, type spec. B. Mi) ; Central Africa (Kirk). |