MAMMALIA-TAPIR. 



309 



THE TAPIR, OR THE ANTA.i 



The tapir is of the size of a small cow, but without horns, and with 

 a short, naked tail ; the legs are short and thick, and the feet have small 

 black hoofs. The body is thick and clumsy, and the back somewhat arched, 

 and the hair is of a dusky or brownish color. On the short thick neck is 

 a kind of bristly mane, which, near the head, is an inch and a half in 

 length. His head is of a tolerable size, with roundish erect ears, and smnl' 



eyes, and the muzzle terminates in a kind of proboscis, which can be ex- 

 tended or contracted, at the will of the animal. The latter it uses in feed- 

 ing, to grasp its food and convey it to the mouth, in the same way that the 

 rhinoceros applies its upper lip ; and in this are also contained the organs 

 of smell. He has ten incisive teeth, and ten grinders, in each jaw ; a 

 character which separates him entirely from the ox, and other ruminating 

 animals. His skin is so thick and hard as to be almost impenetrable to a 

 bullet; for which reason the Indians make shields of it. 



The tapir seldom stirs out but in the night, and delights in the water, 

 where he oftener lives than upon land. He is chiefly to be found in marshes, 



1 Tapirus Americanus. The genus Tapirus lias six upper and sis lower incisors; 

 two upper and two lower canines ; fourteen upper and fourteen lower molars. Interme- 

 niate incisors shorter than the exterior; nose terminating in a moveable little proboscis, 

 hut not by a kind of finger, like the elephant; eyes small; ears long and moveable; 

 fore feet with four toes, the hind ones with three, with short, round hoofs ; tail very 

 short ; two ineninaJ mammae. 



