372 



UNGULATA 



once have had .a veiy wide distribution. There is no proof of their 

 having lived in the Eocene epoch, but in deposits of Miocene and 

 Pliocene date remains undistinguishable generically from the modern 

 Tapirs, and described as T. prisms, T. arvernensis, etc., have been 

 found in France, Germany, and in the Red Crag of Suffolk. Tapirs 

 appear, however, to have become extinct in Europe before the 

 Pleistocene period, since none of their bones or teeth have been found 

 in any of the caverns or alluvial deposits in which those of Elephants, 

 Rhinoceroses, and Hippopotamuses occur in abundance ; but in other 

 regions their distribution at this age was far wider than at present, 



epur^^y-.agr-ttffci 



Pio. 152. — The American Tapir (Tapirus americanus). 



as they are known to have extended eastward to China (T. sinensis, 

 Owen) and westwards over the greater part of the southern United 

 States of America, from South Carolina to California. Lund also 

 distinguished two species or varieties from the caves of Brazil, one 

 of which appears identical with T. americanus. Thus we have no 

 difficulty in tracing the common origin in the Miocene Tapirs of 

 Europe of the now widely separated American and Asiatic species. 

 It is, moreover, interesting to observe how very slight an amount 

 of variation has taken place in forms isolated during such an 

 enormous period of time. 



The anatomy of the soft parts of the Tapirs 1 conforms to the 



1 See J. Murie, Journ. Anat. and Physiol, vol. vi. p. 131, 1871 ; W. N. Parker, 

 Proc. Zool. Soc. 1882, p. 768 ; and F. E. Beddard, Proc Zool. Soe. 18S9, p. 252. 



