nths.

[Footnote 31: There is a very interesting letter in _The Asian_ for
July 20, 1880, p. 109, from Mr. J. Cockburn, about _R. Sumatrensis_,
of which he considers _R. lasiotis_ merely a variety. He says it has
been shot in Cachar.--R. A. S.]

Although the number of species of living rhinoceros is but few, there
are a great many fossil species which show that the animal was more
plentiful and in greater variety in prehistoric times.

Remains of the woolly rhinoceros (_R. trichorhinus_) have been found,
like those of the mammoth, imbedded in ice; it was about eleven and
a-half feet in length, and its body was covered with woolly hair.
A specimen found in 1771 or 1772 was entire, and clothed with skin,
but so far decomposed as to prevent more than the head and feet being
preserved; remains of other fossil species are found throughout
Europe, including Great Britain, and also in India. In 'A Sketch of
the History of the Fossil Vertebrata of India' by Mr. R. Lydekker,
published in the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal,' vol.
xlix., 1880, will be found the names of eight species of fossil
rhinoceros, inclusive of _R. Indicus_, which is found in _recent
alluvia_--it is found with two others in the Pleistocene formation,
and five others are from the Pleiomiocene.

SUB-ORDER ARTIODACTYLA.

We now come to the second division, and a very large one, of the
UNGULATA, which in itself is again subdivided into non-ruminants and
ruminants. The former comprises the pigs of the Old and the peccaries
of the New World and the hippopotami; the latter contains the camels,
llamas, deerlets, oxen, antelope, and deer. In the _Artiodactyla_
the toes are even on all feet, being normally four (perfect and
rudimentary) with the exception of the camel, giraffe and a few
antelope, in which two only are present. To understand the subject
thoroughly one must compare the fore-foot of a deer or pig with our
own hand; what we call the knee of the former is merely our wrist.
The bones which run through the palm of the hand to the knuckles are
the metacarpals; they are five in number, corresponding with the
thumb and four fingers. In the _Artiodactyla_--or, I should say, in
the _Ungulata_ generally--the thumb is entirely wanting; in the
_Artiodactyla_ the fore and little fingers are shorter, rudimentary,
or entirely wanting, and the two centre metacarpals, the middle and
ring fingers are prolonged into what we call the leg below the knee