The ears, which were very short, conical, and fringed with hairs, it moved about with much vivacity. The skin around them was of a light reddish-brown colour, and almost flesh-coloured round the eyelids, which defended the prominent eyes, which had a few short hairs on the margin of the upper lid. The colour of the iris was of a dark brown. The nostrils, situated on prominences, which the animal had the power of raising on the upper part of the broad and massive muzzle, were short oblique slits, guarded by two valves, which were opened and closed spontaneously, like the eyelids. The movements of these apertures were most conspicuous when the beast was in the bath. The wide mouth was chiefly remarkable for the upward curve of its angles towards the eyes, giving a quaintly comic expression to the massive countenance. The short and small milk-tusks projected a little, and the minute incisors appeared to be sunk in pits of the thick gums; but the animal would not permit any close examination of the teeth, withdrawing his head from the attempt, and then threatening to bite. The muzzle was beset with short bristles, split into tufts or pencils of hairs; and fine and short hairs were scattered all over the back and sides. The tail was not long, rather flattened and tapering to an obtuse point. We may here observe that, at certain moments, the whole aspect of the head suggested to one the idea of what may have been the semblance of some of the gigantic extinct Batrachians (as sirens), the relics of a former world, whose fossil bones in the galleries of Palæontology in the British Museum excite our special wonder. After lying about an hour, now and then raising its head, and swivelling its eyeballs towards the keeper, or playfully opening its huge mouth, and threatening to bite the leg of the chair on which the keeper sat, the Hippopotamus rose, and walked very slowly about its room, and then uttered a loud and short harsh snort four or five times in quick succession, reminding one of the snort of a horse, and ending with an explosive sound, like a bark. The keeper understood the language--the animal desired to return to its bath.