ON NORTH AMERICAN ZOOLOGY. 159 



Ord. PACHYDERMATA. 



DicotyUs torqvatus, Cuv. 



This order is at once remarkable for the magnitude of the ani- 

 mals composing it, the great proportion of extinct species, and the 

 small number which now exist in the New World. Two genera 

 only, comprising four or five species, are known in America, 

 namely, tcqnr and dicotyles, both of which belong to the southern 

 zoological province : yet there is one species, the common pec- 

 cari or dkotyles torquatus, which ranges northwards to the 

 Red River, a'tributary of the Mississippi, where it was observed 

 by Nuttall ; this is probably the coyametl of Hernandez. Dr. 

 Harlan states that the tapir is also an inhabitant of Mexico, 

 without quoting his authority ; but Dr. Roulin, who has 

 written a very learned and elaborate treatise on this animal, 

 and figured a second American species, is of opinion that the 

 tapirus americanus ranges from the 35th degree of south lati- 

 tude only to the 12th north, while the new species, t. jiinchachiis, 

 is confined to the higher Cordilleras of the Andes, and does not 

 advance further to the north than the 10th degree. The very 

 remarkable resemblance between the scull of the Indian tapir 

 and that of the palceotherium has been pointed out both by 

 Cuvier and Dr. Roulin. 



Fossil elephants and mastodons occur in North America, and 

 though the present stock of horses, wild and tame, in that 

 country are believed to have had an European origin, fossil 

 bones of horses were found by Captain Beechey under the cliffs 

 of Kotzebue Sound mixed with those of elephants and other 

 animals. There is a considerable resemblance in the kinds of 

 quadrupeds found in the eocene gypsum quarries of Paris, 

 named in Cuvier's list— bat, large wolf, fox, coatis, raccoon, 

 genette, dormouse, and squirrel — to those now existing in Mexico. 

 The genette may be represented in tropical America by bassaris 

 or giilo barharay and the dormouse by neotoma ; while the 

 palceotherium and other extinct pachydermata of Montmartre 

 are allied to the tapir. The other genera are American, but 

 dicotylcs and the felidce, which form so conspicuous a part of 

 the existing carnivora, do not occur in Cuvier's list. 



Ord. RUMINANTIA. 



Cervus alces*?, L. Griff. Cuv. pi. Cervus nemoralis, H. Smith, Griff. Cuv. 



„ tarandus*, L. ? Edw. 51. Dicranocerus furcifer, Rich. i='.B.^.^/. 



„ strongylocerus, Schreb. 247. Capra americana, Rich. F.B.A. 



„ macrotis, Rich. F.B.A. 20. Ovis montana* ?, Id. I.e. 



„ virgiiiianus, Buff. 12, 44. Bos americana, Griff. Cuv. fig. 



„ mexicanus, Gmel. Griff. Cuv. „ moschatus, Penn. Jrct. Zool. 



„ leucums, Dougl. Rich. F.B.A. 



