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Show 1881.] SOUTH-AFRICAN RHINOCEROSES. 731 open ; and I then dismounted within twenty yards of him ; yet he never attempted to charge. Now I doubt if there is a lion, an elephant, or a buffalo which, under similar circumstances, would not have charged. In m y experience of hunting, many fatal accidents, and still more narrow escapes, from lions, elephants, and buffaloes have come within m y personal knowledge, but not one hunter, black or white, has been injured by a Black Rhinoceros. I will now give m y reasons for asserting that B. Bicornis and B. keitloa are not two distinct species, but merely varieties of the same animal. Perhaps the most convincing argument in favour of their being two distinct species is that all the old Dutch hunters and most of the natives declare that such is the case, and have different names for the two animals. This, however, is by no means so strong an argument as it would at first appear. At first sight the typical B. keitloa, with both horns of equal length, is a very different-looking animal from the typical B. Bicornis, with a posterior horn of only a few inches length ; and it is only after a careful study of their habits, and the knowledge that every variety of horn between the two extremes may be found, that I have become convinced that B. keitloa and B. Bicornis are only varieties of the same animal. Now the greater part of the old Dutch hunters, although they may have shot very many Rhinoceroses in the course of their hunting careers, know nothing whatever about the animals from a scientific point of view. They shot Rhinoceroses because they wanted meat; but the only examination they ever made of them was to see if they were fat. When now and again they shot a Rhinoceros with both horns of equal length, or nearly* equal length, it struck their eye as being unusual, and so they gave these equal-horned animals the name of Blue Rhinoceroses, to distinguish them from the White and the Black, as they call B. simus and B. Bicornis respectively. Now I have questioned many7 of these old hunters upon the subject, and find that the only point upon which they all agree is that the Blue Rhinoceros has both horns of equal length, whilst the Black has always a short second horn; beyond this none of them know of any definite distinction ; but many, not liking to appear ignorant, make assertions that will not bear investigation, and one will often contradict the statements of other equally experienced men. Now in the same way every Dutch hunter will tell you that there are three, or even four, distinct species of lions in Southern Africa, each species possessing its own distinctive characteristics. These species they determine according to the length and colour of the mane in different individuals. Yet I think that naturalists are now agreed that there is but one species of lion in all Africa. Therefore as regards lions the testimony of old Dutch hunters is worthless from a scientific point of view; and I believe it to be equally worthless with regard to the plurality or unity of species of the Prehensile-lipped Rhinoceros. One famous old Dutch hunter even affirms that there are three species of Square-mouthed Rhinoceros, and four of the Prehensile-lipped, seven in all; and he bases his distinctions almost 47* |