PERISSODACTYLA. 329 



generalised feature that the dentition was complete, there 

 being six incisors and two canines in each jaw. 



In the later Tertiary deposits of Patagonia have been 

 found the remains of another generalised type, which may 

 perhaps be placed here, and which has been described under 

 the name of Homalodontotherium. In this form there is the 

 complete dentition of forty-four teeth, placed in a continuous 

 series, and of nearly equal height. The molars are like 

 those of FiMnoceros, to which the genus may be supposed to 

 be allied through Hyracodon. 



Lastly, we may mention here the singular Elasmotlierium 

 of the Post - Pliocene of northern, central, and southern 

 Europe, which was allied to the Rhinoceros, but with various 

 quite peculiar characters. The body was of very large size, 

 the length probal:)ly not falling short of fourteen or fifteen 

 feet, and the skull seems to have carried two mesially-placed 

 horns, of which the posterior one was much the largest. The 

 nasal septum is ossified, as in various species of Rhinoceros. 

 The limbs, however, are unknown ; and the molars are not 

 at all of the Pthinoceroid pattern, but, on the contrary, were 

 complicated by elaborately-folded plates of enamel. 



Fam. 3. Tapiriclce. — The Tapirs {Tajnrus) are characterised 

 by the possession of a short movable proboscis or trunk. 

 The skull (fig. 631) is pyramidal, like that of the pigs, and 



Fig. 631.— Side view of the skull of the living Tapirus Americamis. (After Giebel.) 



the nasal bones j)roject over the nasal cavity. The skin is 

 hairy and thick. The tail is extremely short. The fore- 



