Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/543

Rh E H E H 523 the inroads of European civilization, and especially of English sportsmen. It feeds exclusively upon leaves and branches of bushes and small trees, and chiefly frequents the sides of wood-clad rugged hills. Specimens in which the posterior horn has attained a length as great as or greater than the anterior have been separated under the name of R. keitloa, but the characters of these appendages are too variable to found specific distinctions upon. The two- horned African rhinoceros is far more rarely seen in mena- geries in Europe than either of the three Indian species, but one has lived in the gardens of the London Zoological Society since 1868. Excellent figures from life of this and the other species are published in the ninth volume of the Transactions of the society, from which the accompanying woodcuts are reduced. 2. Burchell's or the Square-Mouthed Rhinoceros (R. simus), sometimes called the White Rhinoceros, though the colour (dark-slate) is not materially different from that of the last species, is the largest of the whole group, and differs from all the others in having a square truncated upper lip and a wide, shallow, spatulate symphysis to the lower jaw. In conformity with the structure of the mouth, this species lives entirely by browsing on grass, and is therefore more partial to open countries or districts where there are broad grassy valleys between the tracts of bush. It is only found in Africa south of the Zambesi, and of late years has become extremely scarce, owing to the persecutions of sportsmen ; indeed, the time of its complete extinction cannot be far off. No specimen of this species has ever been brought alive to Europe. Mr F. C. Selous gives the following description of its habits from extensive personal observation : " The square-mouthed rhinoceros is a huge ungainly-looking beast, with a disproportionately large head, a large male standing 6 feet 6 inches at the shoulder. Like elephants and buffaloes they lie asleep during the heat of the day, and feed during the night and in the cool hours of early morning and evening. Their sight is very bad ; but they are quick of hearing, and their scent is very keen; they are, too, often accompanied by rhinoceros birds, which, by running about their heads, flapping their wings, and screeching at the same time, frequently give them notice of the approach of danger. When disturbed they go off at a swift trot, which soon leaves all pursuit from a man on foot far behind ; but if chased by a horseman they break into a gallop, which they can keep up for some distance. However, although they run very swiftly, when their size and heavy build is considered, they are no match for an average good horse. They are, as a rule, very easy to shoot on horseback, as, if one gallops a little in front of and on one side of them, they will hold their course, and come sailing past, offering a magnificent broadside shot, Avhile under similar circumstances a prehensile-lipped rhinoceros will usually swerve away in such a manner as only to present his hind-quarters for a shot. When either walking or running, the square-mouthed rhinoceros holds its head very low, its nose nearly touching the ground. When a small calf accompanies its mother, it always runs in front and she appears to guide it by holding the point of her horn upon the little animal's rump ; and it is perfectly wonderful to note how in all sudden changes of pace, from a trot to a gallop or vice versa, the same position is always exactly main- tained. During the autumn and winter months (i.e., from March to August) the square-mouthed rhinoceros is usually very fat ; and its meat is then most excellent, being something like beef, but yet having a peculiar flavour of its own. The part in greatest favour among hunters is the hump, which, if cut off whole and roasted just as it is in the skin, in a hole dug in the ground, would, I think, be difficult to match either for juiciness or flavour." Proc. Zool. Soc., 1381, p. 726 Extinct Species of Rhinoceros. The family once contained many more species, which were far more widely distributed than at present. As in similar cases, our knowledge of them is as yet but fragmentary, though constantly augmenting, especially by dis- coveries made in the Tertiary deposits of North America, a region in which they all died out long ago, though, judging from the evidence at present available, this was the locality in which they first made their appearance. In the Eocene formations of the Rocky Mountains are found the remains of numerous modifications of the primitive Perissodactyle type, from which the rhinoceroses may have originated. In the Lower Miocene a form called Ifyracodon by Leidy already presented many of the characteristics of the family, though, especially as regards the dentition, in a very generalized condition. The next stage of specialization is represented by Aceratherium. found in the Miocene of both Europe and America, which still, like the last, shows no sign of having possessed a nasal horn. It differed from the existing species also in having four toes on the anterior limb, instead of only three. At the same period forms occurred (Dicera- therium, Marsh) which show a pair of lateral tubercles on the nasal bones, apparently supporting horns side by side. These, how- ever, soon disappeared and gave way in the Old World to species with one or two horns in the median line, a stage of development which apparently was never reached in America. In the Pliocene and Pleistocene of Europe and Asia numerous modifications of the existing types have been found. The present African two-horned type was represented in the Early Pliocene of Greece by R. pachy- gnathus, the skeleton of which is described by Gaudry as intermediate between the existing R. bicornis and R. simus. As many as three species were inhabitants of the British Isles, of which the best known is the Tichorhine or Woolly Rhinoceros, R. antiquitatis of Blumenbach, nearly whole carcases of which, with the thick woolly external covering, have been discovered associated with those of the mammoth, preserved in the frozen soil of the north of Siberia, and which, in common with some other extinct species, had a solid median wall of bone supporting the nasals, from which it is in- ferred that the horns were of a size and weight surpassing that of the modem species. The one-horned Indian type was well repre- sented under several modifications (R. sivalensis, palssindicus, &c.), in the Pliocene deposits of the sub-Himalayan region, and forms more allied to the African bicorn species have also been found in India. R. schleirmacheri of the late European Miocenes was in some respects allied to the existing Sumatran rhinoceros, possessing incisor teeth and two horns. ( W. H. F. ) RHODE ISLAND, one of the six New England States, Plate FV and the smallest in extent of all the States, is one of the original thirteen which formed the American Union. It has an actual land area of only 1054'6 square miles, the waters of Narragansett Bay, its chief physical feature, comprising an additional area of not far from 360 square miles. It lies between 41 18' 1 and 42 3' N. lat., and 71 6' and 71 55' W. long., its greatest length from north to south being about 48 miles, and its greatest width from east to west about 35 miles. It is shut in on the east and north by Massachusetts, and on the west by Connecticut, while its southern shores are washed by the Atlantic Ocean. Physical Characteristics. The geological formation of the western portion of the State is chiefly that of the Montalban gneiss, which characterizes a great part of southern New England (see geological sketch map of New England, in article NEW HAMPSHIRE, vol. xvii. p. 391), but under the bay and to the east of it is an extensive coal-bearing formation, from which at different times upwards of 750,000 tons of coal have been taken. The only other important deposit is one of magnetic oxide of iron. The climate of Rhode Island, though variable, differs from that of the exposed coast of Massachusetts Bay in the absence of harassing east winds ; while the proximity of the southern parts of the State (Newport and vicinity) to the Gulf Stream results in an atmosphere of unusual warmth and moisture, and at the same time comparatively equable. No great extremes, either of heat or of cold, are experienced in the State. Population. The earliest authentic estimate of population is that of 7181 in 1708. The War of Independence (1775-83) had the effect of reducing it from 59,707 in 1774 to 52,347 in 1782. The subsequent United States censuses show steady gains, as follows : 1790, 68,825 ; 1800, 69,122 ; 1810, 77,031 ; 1820, 83,059; 1830, 97,210; 1840, 108,830; 1850, 147,545; 1860, 174,620; 1870, 217,353; 1880, 276,531 (143,501 males, 133,030 females) ; while a State census in 1885 (advance returns) gives 304,419. The census of 1880 showed Rhode Island to be surpassed in aggregate population by all except Colorado, Oregon, Delaware, and Nevada, but in density it was surpassed by none (254 '9 per square mile, the average for" the whole United States being 13 '92). By the same census the number of persons of foreign birth was 73,993, or 26 '8 percent, no State east of Lake Michigan showing 1 The town of New Shoreham, which lies on an island 10 miles from shore, is beyond this limit.