Hornanimals

Horn (animals), a general name for the weapons on the heads of ruminants and rhinoceroses, and for the analogous structures in beetles. Thus used, it includes antlers (q.v.), but, properly speaking, the name is confined to the head-growths in the Cavicornia (oxen, sheep, and antelopes) and rhinoceroses. It is also employed to designate the epidermic tissue of which these structures are composed. Horns in the Cavicornia are borne on bony outgrowths (horn-cores) from the frontal bone and, except in the prong-horn (q.v.), are unbranched and persistent. The Chikara (q.v.) alone of living species has two pairs, as had the extinct Bramatherium and Sivatherium from the Siwalik hills, the posterior pair being branched. Unlike antlers, true horns are generally present in both sexes. The "horn" of the rhinoceros, which is supported on the nasal bones - the second horn, when present being on the frontal - is really a gigantic wart, composed of horny fibres growing from papillee on the skin and cemented together by cells that grow up from between these papillee. It takes a fine polish, and is fashioned into drinking cups,1 handles for tools, etc. Thin plates of horn were used in windows before gleiss was common, and down to recent times for lanterns, probably as less liable to breakage.