I. On the dentition of Rhinoceros leptorhinus (Owen)

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society of London
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 1867
• Subjects: Arctic; Falconer
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspl.1866.0025; https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rspl.1866.0025

The fossil remains of the genus Rhinoceros found in Pleistocene deposits in Great Britain indicate four well-defined species. Of these the R. tichorhinus , or the common fossil species, ranged throughout France, Germany, and Northern Russia, and, like its congener the Mammoth, was defended from the intense winter cold by a thick clothing of hair and wool. Its southern limit in the Europæo-Asiatic continent was a line passing through the Pyrenees, the Alps, the northern shore of the Caspian, and the Altai Mountains. It has not yet been proved to have existed in Europe anterior to the deposit of the Boulder Clay. The second species, the R. megarhinus of M. de Christol, characterized by its slender limbs and the absence of the “cloison,” has been determined by the author among remains from the brick-earths occupying the lower part of the Thames valley, and from the Preglacial forest-bed of Cromer. The species ranged from the Norfolk shore southwards through Central France into Italy. In France and Italy it characterizes the Pliocene deposits, being found in the former country in association with Mastodon brevirostris and Halitherium Serresii , in the latter with M. Arvernensis . From its southern range we may infer that the megarhine species was fitted to inhabit the warm and temperate zones of Europe, just as the tichorhine was peculiarly fitted for the endurance of an Arctic winter. The third species is. the R. etruscus of Dr. Falconer, confined to the forest-bed of the Norfolk shore, and, like the R. megarhinus , found in the Pliocenes of France and Italy; it ranged across the Pyrenees as far as Malaga, and is the only species known to occur in Spain.