180 MAMMALIA. 



nearly equalled the Elephant : Tap. gigcmteus, Cuv;, Oss.. Foss< 

 torn. 11.(1) 



FAMILY IIL 



SOLIPEDES. 



The Solipedes are quadrupeds which have only one appa- 

 rent toe;, and a single hoof to each foot, although under the 

 gkin, on each side of their metatarsus and metacarpus, there 

 ?ire spurs representing two lateral toes. One genus only is, 

 Icnown, that of 



Equus, Lin., 



The Horse has six incisors in each jaw, the crowns of which, at an 

 early age, are marked with a fossula, and six molars throughout, 

 with a square crown, marked by laminae of enamel which dip into 

 them, with four crescents, and in the upper ones, with a snnall disk 

 on the inner edge. The male has also two small additional canini 

 in the upper jaw, and sometimes in both, which are almost always 

 wanting in the female. Between these canini and the first molar 

 is that unoccupied space which corresponds to the angle of the lips 

 where the bit is placed, by Avhich alone Man has been enabled to 

 subdue and tame this powerful animal. The stomach is simple and 

 moderate, but the intestines are very long, and the caecum enor- 

 fiious. The mammae are between the thighs. 



S!. cahallus, L.; Buff. IV, i. (The Horse.) This noble asso- 

 ciate of Man, in the chase, in war, and in the works of agricul- 

 ture, the arts and commerce, is the most important and care- 

 fully attended of all the animals he has subdued. It does not 

 seem to exist in a wild state at the present time j those places 

 excepted, where Horses formerly domesticated have been set at 

 liberty, as in Tartary and America, where they live in troops, 

 each of which is led and defended by an old male. The young 



(1) Dr Roulin has lately discovered in the Cordilleras a new species of Tapir, 

 black, and covered with hair ; the bones of its nose are more elongated, whicli, 

 ^pjT)ewhat approximates it to the Palxotherium. 



M. Schleyermacherhas obtained a lower jaw bone of the great fossil animal that 

 Vas supposed to be a gigantic Tapir. It turns out that it is possessed of enoi,"mous 

 canini which must have projected from the month ; consequently, it must form a 

 separate genus.. Its size may have been greater tlian that of the Hippopotamus, 

 ^y one half 



