:

awkward form its usual height is about eight feet, its length ten or eleven feet. When left to itself, is quiet

and inoffensive, but if attacked, is very savage.

has great strength and swiftness.

It

The wounds which

it receives are said to heal soon. The skin is darkcoloured, and is so hard and tough, that bullets of lead, when fired at it, have been flattened against it; but an iron ball, or one formed of tin and lead, will penetrate the skin.

Different species of the Rhinoceros are found in India, Africa, and in the islands of Java and Sumatra.

The flesh is sometimes eaten in Ceylon, and in other places; and the skin, flesh, hoofs, and teeth, are used in medicines. Its food consists of vegetable substances, the leaves, branches, and even trunks of trees. The latter it tears into threads by the help of the remarkable horn which grows on its nose, and from which the name of the creature is derived. This horn

is entirely different in its formation and mode of growth, from that of any other known creature; it being made up of a bundle of fibres having the appearance of bristles lying side by side, glued together, and attached to the skin.

There is reason to believe that the Unicorn of heraldry had its foundation in the imperfect descriptions given of the Rhinoceros by some early travellers, and we may therefore consider the animal before us to be alluded to in Scripture. The first mention of it, in reference to its great strength, is found in the answer of Balaam when solicited by Balak to curse Israel. "He hath as it were the strength of an unicorn."*

The Lion and the Unicorn were first assumed by King James the First, in 1603, as the supporters of the royal arms of England. Before that time there were many changes in the choice of supporters. Queen Elizabeth's were a Lion and a Dragon. The reason of the Unicorn having taken the place of the dragon was, that James' supporters, as king of Scotland, were two unicorns.

A fine and large Rhinoceros is now exhibited in the gardens of the Zoological Society.

* Numb. xxiii. 22; xxiv. 8. See also Deut. xxxiii. 17 Job xxxix. 9-12; Psalm xcii. 10.

THE Wild Boar still infests many parts of Europe, and was formerly to be found in the woods and forests of Britain. Among the severe forest-laws in force in the reign of William the First, there was one by which any found guilty of killing the stag, the roe-buck, or the Wild Boar, should have their eyes put out! and sometimes the penalty appears to have been a painful death.

This savage and dangerous animal is met with in Asia; it is a favourite object of the chase in India, and is also said to be an inhabitant of Syria, and the northern parts of Africa. It feeds on vegetables, fruit, and different kinds of grain; though, when stimulated by hunger, it does not reject the flesh of animals. male lives alone and apart, amidst the thickest retreats of the forest, lying concealed during the day, and roaming about in the evening in search of food. The

The

females, on the contrary, unite in large herds with their young, for the purpose of mutual defence. When attacked, the older and stronger ones form a line against the enemy, the younger and weaker portion of the herd being placed in the rear; and it is found that the females, though generally quiet and harmless, defend their young with the most determined courage.

The chase of the Wild Boar has for centuries been much followed in Germany, and is considered the more exciting in consequence of its dangerous character. This kind of hunting has furnished a glowing but painful subject for the pencil of the artist. The long, curved, and sharp tusks of the animal, wielded by the strong muscles of his brawny neck, are capable of tearing open the body of his enemy, the horse, at a single blow. When once at bay, the Boar becomes furious. He turns indiscriminately on his pursuers; and the hunter himself is in no little jeopardy, if he be on foot, or his horse be disabled.

The common hog, or pig, one of the most useful animals reared in Great Britain and Ireland, derives its origin from the savage and powerful creature represented in the engraving. The ordinary length of the head and body of a Wild Boar of four years old, is three feet, the head being nearly a foot in length.

The Wild Boar is one of the quadrupeds mentioned in Holy Scripture. The Psalmist, lamenting the miseries of the Church, which, under a beautiful figure, he compares to a goodly vine, rifled and trodden under foot, complains-" The Wild Boar out of the wood doth root it up; and the wild beasts of the field devour it."*

* Psalm lxxx 13.

THIS remarkable animal is chiefly found in South America, and belongs to the pachydermatous tribe, which is so called from the extreme thickness of the skin of the animals which compose it. The hog is of this order. The skin of the Tapir is so thick and tough, that Sonnini, the traveller, says he has frequently fired at one crossing a river with her young, without causing her to turn aside from her direction, although he could see the impression made by the ball on her hide. With this coat of mail the Tapir can clear for itself a path through the thickest woods, and snap in two a cord strong enough to stop a bull in its

course.