252 



THE ORIENTAL TAPIR 



potamus amphibius ; hence the epithet applied to the Tapir. But 

 as a matter of fact it loves marshy neighbourhoods, and is in a 

 way amphibious. This does not of course apply to the Andesian 

 T. roulini, which inhabits the cordillera of Ecuador and Colombia. 

 The distribution of existing Tapirs is, as is so often the case, 

 restricted when compared with that of their extinct congeners and 

 allies. In Europe the remains of the genus Tapirus are abundant 

 from Pliocene strata, and its remains are there known from 

 as far back as the Miocene. The genus is thus one of the very 

 oldest forms of Mammalia at present inhabiting the earth. 



Fio. 129. Malayan Tapir. Tapirus indicns, young, 



(From Nature.) 



The Malayan Tapir is to be distinguished from the American 

 (T. terrestris the other species have not been dissected) by the 

 greater development of the valvulae conniventes in the intestine, 

 the absence of a moderator band in the heart, and the less 

 elongated caecum, which is sacculated by only three bands, there 

 being four in T. terrestris. 1 The animal frequents the most 

 retired spots among the hill woods, by which habit it seems 



1 See Beddard, Proe. Zool. Soc. 1 889, p. 252, and other papers there cited, for 

 the anatomy of the Tapir. 



