Dow's Tapir 391 



For a long time it was supposed that the partition in the later animal was 

 developed in order to aid in supporting the long front horn, but the fact 

 that the white rhinoceros, which carries an equally heavy front horn, has 

 no such partition, coupled with the presence of a partition in two species of 

 hornless tapirs, renders it doubtful whether this is the true reason for the 

 ossification ot the central cartilage of the nasal chamber. 



Baird's tapir was described by Dr. GilP in the year 1865, and is an 

 inhabitant of Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama, thus 

 being the most northerly representative of the group in America. 



DOW'S TAPIR 



{'raprrus dowi) 



The fourth and last American representative of the group agrees, as 

 already mentioned, with the preceding in the ossification of the nasal 

 partition, and is exclusively confined to Central America, where it is found 

 in the republics of Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. The specimen 

 from Venezuela figured under this name in Plate xxiii. of the Prccecdings of 

 the Zoological Society of London tor 1882 has been shown to belong to 

 Tapirus terresfns (see page 386). Dow's tapir was first recognised as a dis- 

 tinct species in 1870, when it was described by Dr. Gill" on the evidence 

 of the skull. This is distinguished from the skull of T. Iniirili hy the very 

 small nasal bones ; these being very thin and separated by an anterior pro- 

 longation of the frontals, to which they become united. As regards the 

 scanty information we possess of the external characters of this species 

 and 7'. hairdl, the late Mr. R. Alston [Biologia Centrali Americana — 

 " Mammalia," p. 101) wrote as follows : — 



" The young of 7'. bairdi is reddish brown, with irregular white spots 



1 Proceedings Philiidelphiii A aide my, 1865, p. 183. 

 ^ American "Journal of Science, ser. 2, vol. ii. p. 142. 



