RHINOCEROS, a genus of mammals belonging to the family Rhinocerotidm, of which four or five species occur in Africa and in the East Indies,—R. Indicus, the great Indian rhinoceros ; R. Sondaicus, the lesser Indian rhinoceros ; and R. Sumatranus of Assam, Sandoway, and Sumatra. The rhino ceros was in Sind and the Panjab at least as late as Jordanus' time, and in Peshawur province 200 years later, t,o the time of Baber. The rhinoceros has been found fossil in Ava and Perim. Rhino ceros' hide is made into shields, sword handles, and ramrods, and its horn into goblets and drinking cups. Mr. Blyth has identified the two-homed rhinoceros of the Tenasserim Provinces with Rh. Crossii, Gray, and he refers the species to Rh. Sunaatranus, auctorum, which attains a develop ment of horn hitherto unsuspected. The skull of a one-horned rhinoceros shot by Dr. Hook near Tavoy Point, where there is a small isolated colony of the species, is that of Rh. Indicus and not Rh. Sondaieus. Seemingly all the species of rhino ceros attack the watch-fires of travellers. Fine horns of the Asiatic two-horneerhinoceros are difficult to procure, as they are bought up at extravagant prices by the Chinese, who call them Si-koh and Si-niu-koh, and their skins Si-pi. The inhabitants of the forests of Chantaburi chase wild beasts with firearms and nets ; but they attack the rhinoceros armed with solid bamboos, of which one end has been hardened by e4osure' to the fire and sharpened. By loud cries a,nd clap ping then. hands, they invite the animal to meet them, which he is wont to do by rushing violently upon them, opening and closing his wide mouth ; they attack him in front, and drive the bamboos violently into his throat with surprising dexterity, taking flight on all sides. The animal, in its agony, throws itself on the ground, and, becoming exhausted by the effusion of blood and the extrem ity of its suffering, it soon becomes the prey of its courageous assailants. In their hunting expeditions, all the passages to a district are closed with nets, and, fire being applied to the jungle, the wild animals are destroyed as they seek to escape. The hairy-eared rhinoceros is the Rhinoceros lasiotis. A nearly adult female speci men, Begum,' as she is called, was captured near Chittagong, in British Burma, by some officers employed in the Kheddah department for the capture of elephants. In January 1872 she
was brought to England by Mr. W. Jamrach, a well-known dealer in living animals, and pur chased by the Zoological Society for the sum of 11250. The skin of the rhinoceros is made into a jelly by the Chinese.
Rhinoceros born is the Si - koh and Si - niu koh of the Chinese. Cups are made of the horn, which are imported from India, Cochin-China, Siam, Sumatra, Sze-chuen, Kwei-chau, and Kan suh. The black and pointed horns are most esteemed.
Rhinoceros Indicus, Cuv., Blyth.
R. unicornis, L. I R. Asiaticus, Blume.
R. inermis, Lep.
Gor, ASSAM. I Ganda, Genra, . . HIND.
Genda, Gonda, Tfrwn. I The unwieldy great Indian rhinoceros, or small horned rhinoceros, has one horn ; it is found in the forest swamps and dens6 jungles at the foot of the Himalaya, in the Terai from Rohilkhand, in the Nepal Terai and Sikkim Terai from Bhutan to Nepal, but is most abundant in Assam and the Bhutan Doar. Its length is from 9 to 12 feet, and its height 4i to 5 feet ; horn oce,asionally 2 feet. It is herbivorous.
Rhinoceros Sondaicus, Sol., Oftener, Blyth.
R. Javanicus, F. Cuv. I Lesser Indian rhinoceros.
Warak, JAY I Badak, . . . . MALAY.
This species has one horn, and is 7 or 8 feet long, and 3i to 31: feet high. It inhabits the Bengal Sunderbuus in the forest tract along the Mahanadi river, and extending northwards to wards Midnapur and on the northern edge of the Rajmahal Hills near the Ganges. It occurs also abundantly in Burma and through the Malayan Peninsula to Java and Borneo.
Rhinoceros Sumatranus, Raffles. R. Suma trensis, Cuv. The Sumatran rhinoceros is not confined to that island, but occurs in the Indo Chinese territories, in Assam, and from Sandoway, in lat. 23° N., to Sumatra. It has two horns. Dr. Oldham, while with the embassy to Ava, shot one which attacked his watch-fire.—Blyth in J. B. As. Soc. ; Jerdon's Maninzals ; Horsfield, p. 195 ; Wallace's Archipelago ; Ibn Batuta, p. 100 ; Baber, pp. 292, 316 ; Journ. Asiat. Soc. i. tom. ix. p. 201 ; Petis de la Croix, Timur, p. 158 ; Yule, Cathay, i. p. 194 ; Bowring's Siam, i. p. 26 ; Gray, P. Z. S. 1854 ; Tran., 1793 ; Smith's Chin, Mat. Med.