104 
Nasal bones and cartilages of the American Tapir. 
The dissection of the proboscis Fig. 1. 
has afforded some points of inter- = 
est. A brief description of its gene- p 
ral structure, derived only from the y 
dissection of a foetus, is given by ig 
Cuvier in the ‘Leconsd’Anatomie | 
Comparée,’ but some remarkable} 
details seem not as yet to have jf} 
been noticed. The deep notch on \\} 
each side of the base of the pro- \Vj 
jecting nasal bones, which forms \t 
so striking a characteristic in the 
skull, may be very readily, and 
probably always has been, pre- Z 
sumed to be intended for muscu- t FZ 
lar attachment ; but its real office 
is to lodge the posterior termina- , y 
tion of the lateral cartilage of the \ 
nose. These lateral cartilages, \ ] 
arising from that of the septum 4 
immediately beneath the ossa nasi, / 
proceed outwards as usual, but the 
{ 
edge curls inwards, forming one 
entire convolution, of which the 
outer part forms posteriorly a flat- 
tened tube with a blind extremity, ‘ j 
curved upwards, and its termina- ‘7’ 
tion lodged in the notch alluded § 
to. From the edge, which is of 
course concealed, a thickened l- 
near prominence is continued up- 
wards within the commencement 
of the blind tube, but, instead of 
following its curve, terminates in a rounded extremity. There is no 
trace whatever of the alar cartilages, the remainder of the proboscis 
being entirely of a soft substance. With the addition of the pair of 
Superior aspect. 
Fig. 2. 
Lateral aspect.—A portion of the outer wall of the cartilage cut away to show the 
internal convolution. 
