TAPIRS. 109 



nnd mutilaled portions of the skull, were discovered iu 1859, in the copper-miiio of Santa Itosa, in 

 Bolivia. This species has been named by Professor Huxley Ma(kaucheni.\ Boi.ivie.xsis. From 

 the remains examined b}' him, he conceived that it proved " that when they were imbedded, there 

 lived in the highlands of Bolivia a species of Mackaiichen'ia, not half as large as the Patagoniaii 

 form, and having proportions nearly as slender as those of the Vicugna, with even a lighter head : 

 and it is very interesting to observe that, during the probably post-plioecne epoch, a small and a 

 large species of a more or less Auchenoid mammal ranged the mountains and the plains of South 

 America respectively, just as at present the small Vicugna is fouTid in the highlands, and the large 

 Guanaco in the plains of the same Continent."* 



Meantime, M. Bravard, well kimwu for his palaL'onldldgical laboui's, had, in 185(1, been fortunate 

 enough to obtain a perfect skull of the animal, as well as some other portions of the skeleton, from 

 near Buenos Ayres. This has formed the subject of a memoir by Professor Bui'meistcr, ai'ter 

 Bravard's untimely death in the fatal earthquake of Mendoza had arrested a work on the fossil 

 fauna of La Plata, on which the latter was engaged. 



Professor Burmeister's better materials have enabled him to unravel its affinities, and he con- 

 siders that its place is between the Pal.eothertd.t; and the Tapirs. Notwithstanding this, 

 however, I imagine osteologists will not readily abandon the idea, suggested by the ruminant 

 character of its cervical vertebra; and long neck, of its having a certain amount of connexion with 

 the Camici.id.t;. A pachyderm with a long neck is an anomaly, and seems inconsistent with the 

 typical idea of the animal. It is entirely in deference to Prof. Burmeister's opinion that I place 

 the genus here. . 



Tapirs. (Tapirid,?;.) (Map 44.) There are three existing fonns of Tapirs, all formed in the same 

 mould, and yet readily distinguished by external characters. 



The first species (Tapirus Americanus) is entirely of a brownish-black colour. It has a 

 very wide distribution in South America, extending from east to west, from the foot of the Andes, 

 that is, the inner or eastern range (the range known by the name of Cordillera being the western), 

 to the Atlantic Ocean, and from north (o south, i'rom Central America to Buenos Ayres. 



Another smaller South American species, T. Roulini (T. vii.losus, Fisc/i.) also bniwn-black, 

 inhabits the higher regions of the ranges of the Andes at an altitude of seven or eight thmisand 

 feet, and possesses pecidiar interest from being clothed with long, thick, close, felted, blackish-brown 

 hair, giving us an instance exactly corresponding to the warm coating of the species of Pachyderms 

 which have been adapted for living in cold climates. The Mammoth had a ponderous fleece of 

 long luiir ^and felted wool ; and the northern lUiinoccros was also woolly-haii'cd. ^Viid liere, whei'e 

 the conditions of its life call for the provision, we have their congener, the Tapir, similarly protected. 



The third sj^ecies, T. Indicits, distinguished by the posterior half of the body being white, is 

 confined to Sumatra, Malacca, and the south-west province of China. It lias been said to be found 

 in Borneo. Mr. Spencer St. John, indeed, classes it with the Elephant and Rhinoceros as there 

 found, but I can hud no sufficient warrant for this. I shall discuss the value of his statement 

 when we come to the Elephant. 



Fossil remains of species of Tapir have been found both in America and lilurope. Lund found 

 one in the bone-caverns of Brazil. In Texas and Kentucky remains have been found, ealhd by 



* Huxley, iu " .louriuil of Geolog. Society," xvii. p. S3. 



