mixed with poison it cleaves in two, which experiment has been seen by thousands of people." John Evelyn also wrote of a well in Italy which was kept sweet by a Rhinoceros' horn. This species seems to be long-lived, even in captivity; a specimen now to be seen in the Zoological Society's Gardens has been there since the year 1864.
Rhinoceros sondaicus, the Rhinoceros of the Sunderbunds, has a much wider range than the last species or Indian Rhinoceros. This is unknown out of India itself, and is there limited to a small region; the Sondaic form is found in Bengal and in the Malayan Islands. It is a smaller species, and the armour has a tesselated appearance. The female generally, if not always, is hornless.
Fig. 131.—Sumatran Rhinoceros. Rhinoceros sumatrensis. × 1⁄15. (From Nature.)
The Sumatran species, Rhinoceros sumatrensis, is to be distinguished from the last two by its two horns. It is also covered
by a much thicker coat of hairs, which are sometimes blacker and sometimes redder. On account of its two horns it has been proposed to separate it from the other Oriental species into a distinct genus, Ceratorhinus. The animal has much the same range as the last species, but extends to Borneo. A variety of this species with hairy ears, from Assam, has been separated as a distinct form, under the name of Rh. lasiotis, by Mr. Sclater. The animal upon which that species was founded was until quite recently living in the Zoological Society's Gardens.
Fig. 132.—Hairy-eared Rhinoceros. Rhinoceros lasiotis. × 1⁄30.
There are only two certainly-known species of Rhinoceros in Africa. These are the White Rhinoceros (Rh. simus) and the Black Rhinoceros (Rh. bicornis). The origin of the names is not easy to understand, since the "white" animal is, if anything, darker in colour than the Black Rhinoceros. It is stated, however, that in past years the specimens of Rh. simus found in the south-west of Cape Colony were "paler and whiter in colour than those in the north-east." At present there are no grounds for distinguishing the species by their colour characters. But they are plainly distinguishable on other grounds. Rhinoceros simus has a square upper lip, and in relation to this crops the herbage upon the ground. Rh. bicornis has a prehensile upper lip projecting beyond the lower, and in a corresponding fashion feeds principally upon the branches of shrubs, It has been pointed out by Mr.
Coryndon[[161]] that the calf of Rh. simus "always runs in front of the cow, while the calf of Rh. bicornis invariably follows its mother." Both animals of course have two horns, and upon the varying proportions of the horns a large number of "species" have been made in the past. It is stated that the longest horn of the "White Rhinoceros" known measures 56½ inches; while that of R. bicornis is shorter, 40 inches being apparently the maximum. But the animal is smaller.