810 Mr. Yarrell o« the Tapir of America, 



freshwater may be as necessary to their re-production as sea- water is to 

 the land-crabs of the West Indies . Such a supposition is in unison with 

 the bountiful provisions of nature for the general diffussion of animal 

 life. 



Art. XXII. Observations on the Tapir of America, 

 By William Yarrell, Esq., F.L.S, 



The animal which afforded an opportunity for the following remarks 

 was presented to the Zoological Society, in the month of July last, by 

 Lieutenant Maw of the Royal Navy, but unfortunately for the interests 

 of science, as well as of the society, it was so far reduced by disease on 

 its arrival in the river, as to survive its removal to the garden in the Regent's 

 Park only a few hours; but little therefore could be ascertained of 

 its disposition, beyond that of its submitting without any resistance to 

 the applications that were made for its relief. 



When dead, the whole length of the animal from the nose to the 

 root of the tail was 48 inches; the girth 35 inches; and it was said to 

 be about 12 months old. Its colour was a rusty reddish brown, with 

 indications of Hghter spots and horizontal lines on the ribs, flanks and 

 thighs. These fawn- coloured spots and stripes are common to both 

 spefcies of Tapir while young; that of Sumatra not exhibiting, till it is 

 six months old, any appearance of the well defined black and white 

 colour which afterwards distinguishes the adult animal. The shape is 

 well known. The incisor teeth ^, very much used, the edges coming 

 into close contact when the molars act. The canines ^ |, those of the 

 upper jaw small, and removed a short distance from the lateral incisor, 

 to admit the interposition of the larger canines of the lower jaw. The 

 molars in this young animal were f ^ : of those in the lower jaw, the 

 first has three lobes, with five points ; the second and third two lobes, 

 with four points. Of the four in the upper jaw, the first has two 

 outer, and one inner point; the other three molars have each two lobes 

 with four points; all the parallel points or tubercles are connected trans- 

 versely by a slight triangular ridge; each of these triangular ridges, 

 with their connected tubercles, shutting into similarly shaped cavities in 



