Abstract
IN the two accompanying woodcuts Mr. T. W. Wood has very carefully and accurately mapped out for us the manner in which the peculiar skin-folds, so conspicuous in both the Indian one-horned rhinoceri, are arranged over the surfaces of their bodies, The sketches were both taken from the specimens now living in the Zoological Gardens, the Indian animal (Rhinoceros unicornis) being a fully adult male, presented by Mr. A. Grote in 1864, and the Javan (R. sondaicus), the not quite full-grown example, of the same sex, just purchased. A fortnight ago (NATURE, vol. ix. p. 363) we mentioned some of the most important points by which the two species are distinguished, laying stress on what is rendered so much more evident by the sketches we now give, namely, the peculiar manner in which the lateral shoulder-fold- which in the Indian species does not run up the middle line oi the back, but is lost over the upper part of the scapula before it reaches the post-scapular transverse fold, as it is continued longitudinally backwards—in Rhinoceros sondaicus is carried perpendicularly upwards along the middle of the scapular shield, quite to the back, so as to cut off an extra, independent, saddle-shaped, small, median segment, which covers the nape of the neck. The peculiar notch in the post-scapular transverse fold, and the less extent of the longitudinal fold in the gluteal shield in the Javan species, is also very apparent. Another point which is well indicated is the difference in the shape of the upper lip in the two animals, it being short and blunt in R. indicus, whilst it is long, pointed, and semi-prehensile in R. sondaicus.
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On the Arrangement of the Skin-Folds in the One-Horned Rhinoceri . Nature 9, 446 (1874). https://doi.org/10.1038/009446a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/009446a0