﻿492 
  PROCEEDINGS 
  OF 
  THE 
  NATIONAL 
  MUSEUM 
  vol. 
  loa 
  

  

  The 
  head 
  of 
  " 
  Tapirus 
  doivi" 
  figured 
  by 
  Alston 
  (Mammalia, 
  pi. 
  9, 
  

   in 
  Godman 
  and 
  Salvin, 
  Biologia 
  Centrali-Americana: 
  Zoology, 
  1882) 
  

   has 
  the 
  high, 
  maned 
  crest 
  distinctive 
  of 
  T. 
  terrestris, 
  to 
  which 
  species 
  it 
  

   is 
  now 
  assigned. 
  

  

  Baird's 
  tapir, 
  the 
  least 
  known 
  and 
  the 
  last 
  living 
  species 
  of 
  the 
  genus 
  

   to 
  be 
  given 
  a 
  Linnaean 
  name, 
  was 
  the 
  first 
  recorded 
  in 
  Em-opean 
  

   literature. 
  A 
  recognizable, 
  though 
  exaggerated, 
  description 
  was 
  

   given 
  by 
  Peter 
  Martyr 
  D'Angher, 
  the 
  first 
  chronicler 
  of 
  the 
  discovery 
  

   and 
  conquest 
  of 
  America, 
  in 
  book 
  9 
  of 
  the 
  second 
  (of 
  eight) 
  Ocean 
  

   Decade 
  of 
  his 
  "De 
  Orbe 
  Novo," 
  published 
  in 
  1516. 
  Martyr's 
  concept 
  

   of 
  the 
  tapir, 
  acquired 
  from 
  descriptions 
  brought 
  to 
  him 
  by 
  the 
  first 
  

   explorers 
  of 
  the 
  Isthmus 
  of 
  Panamd, 
  is 
  of 
  an 
  animal 
  which 
  "Nature 
  

   created 
  in 
  prodigious 
  form. 
  It 
  is 
  as 
  large 
  as 
  a 
  bull, 
  and 
  has 
  a 
  trunk 
  

   like 
  an 
  elephant; 
  and 
  yet 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  an 
  elephant. 
  Its 
  hide 
  is 
  like 
  a 
  buU's 
  

   and 
  yet 
  it 
  is 
  not 
  a 
  bull. 
  Its 
  hoof 
  resembles 
  that 
  of 
  a 
  horse, 
  but 
  it 
  is 
  

   not 
  a 
  horse. 
  It 
  has 
  ears 
  like 
  an 
  elephant's 
  though 
  smaller 
  and 
  drooping, 
  

   yet 
  they 
  are 
  larger 
  than 
  those 
  of 
  any 
  other 
  animal." 
  Prior 
  to 
  official 
  

   date 
  of 
  publication, 
  the 
  manuscripts 
  of 
  the 
  "Oceanic 
  Decades" 
  were 
  

   made 
  available 
  to 
  students 
  and 
  correspondents 
  as 
  they 
  were 
  being 
  

   written, 
  from 
  1494 
  onward. 
  This 
  led 
  to 
  a 
  pirated 
  published 
  edition 
  

   in 
  1504 
  and 
  another 
  in 
  1507, 
  both 
  Italian. 
  The 
  second 
  record 
  of 
  a 
  

   tapir 
  refers 
  to 
  another 
  Panamanian 
  T. 
  bairdii 
  and 
  dates 
  from 
  the 
  

   "Summario" 
  of 
  Gonzalo 
  Fernandez 
  de 
  Oviedo 
  y 
  Valdes, 
  published 
  in 
  

   1526 
  (or 
  1525) 
  at 
  Madrid. 
  The 
  accurate 
  description 
  of 
  this 
  tapir 
  is 
  

   repeated, 
  accompanied 
  by 
  a 
  first-rate 
  woodcut, 
  in 
  Oviedo's 
  "Historia 
  

   General 
  y 
  Natural 
  de 
  las 
  Indias" 
  (book 
  12, 
  chap. 
  11, 
  pi. 
  1, 
  fig. 
  11), 
  

   published 
  in 
  1535 
  at 
  Seville, 
  Spain. 
  Oviedo 
  extolled 
  the 
  gastronomic 
  

   virtues 
  of 
  tapir 
  meat 
  and 
  slow-boiled 
  tapir 
  feet, 
  and 
  told 
  of 
  how 
  the 
  

   animal 
  is 
  hunted 
  with 
  dogs. 
  During 
  the 
  remainder 
  of 
  the 
  16th 
  

   century 
  practically 
  all 
  travelers, 
  missionaries, 
  and 
  students 
  interested 
  

   in 
  New 
  World 
  natural 
  history 
  described 
  or 
  referred 
  to 
  Baird's 
  tapir. 
  

   Francisco 
  Herndndez 
  (Rerum 
  Medicarum 
  Novae 
  Hispaniae 
  The- 
  

   saurus, 
  seu 
  Plantarum, 
  Animalium 
  . 
  . 
  ., 
  tract. 
  I, 
  cap. 
  8, 
  p. 
  3, 
  1651) 
  

   described 
  the 
  Tlacaxolotl, 
  which, 
  in 
  spite 
  of 
  the 
  long 
  tail 
  attributed 
  

   to 
  it, 
  is 
  unmistakably 
  a 
  tapir. 
  The 
  animal 
  was 
  said 
  to 
  occur 
  in 
  

   Atzcdn 
  [Veracruz], 
  Tepotzotldn 
  [Mexico] 
  and 
  Tlaquilapdn 
  [Hidalgo 
  

   or 
  Veracruz]. 
  The 
  Herndndez 
  account 
  of 
  the 
  TlacaxoloU 
  is 
  iden- 
  

   tical 
  to 
  that 
  of 
  Fray 
  Bernardino 
  de 
  Sahagdn 
  in 
  his 
  "Historia 
  

   General 
  de 
  las 
  Cosas 
  de 
  Nueva 
  Espana." 
  This 
  work 
  was 
  written 
  

   diu-ing 
  the 
  latter 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  16th 
  century. 
  The 
  manuscript, 
  ex- 
  

   amined 
  and 
  cited 
  by 
  16th 
  and 
  early 
  17th 
  century 
  students 
  of 
  

   Mexican 
  history, 
  was 
  not 
  published 
  until 
  1831. 
  Publication 
  dates 
  

   are 
  of 
  no 
  importance 
  in 
  comparing 
  the 
  works 
  of 
  Hernandez 
  and 
  

  

  