604 UNGULATES. 



220. Tapirus. — The dental formula of the Tapir is : — 

 in. —-, c. — ; p. — ; m. — : = 42. (PI. 96. figs. 4 & 5.) 



3—3 ' i_i ' r 3_3 » 3_3 \ O ' 



The median incisors above have a broad trenchant crown, separated 

 by a transverse channel from a large basal ridge ; the wedge-shaped 

 crowns of the opposite pair below fit into the channel, and have no basal 

 ridge : the outer incisors above are very large and like canines ; those 

 below are unusually small. The canines have crowns much shorter 

 than their roots, and not projecting, like tusks, beyond the lips : they 

 are pointed, with an outer convex, separated by sharp edges from 

 an inner, less convex, surface : the lower canines form part of 

 the same semi-circular series with the incisors : the upper ones 

 project close to the intermaxillary suture, separated from the 

 incisors by a short space for the reception of the crown of the 

 lower canine : this first shows the effects of abrasion at the fore- 

 part of the crown occasioned by the action of the upper laniariform 

 incisors. A long edentulous ridge of the jaw-bone separates the 

 canines from the molar series. 



The first three premolars above have the outer part of the 

 crown composed of two half-cones, the posterior one having a 

 basal ridge : the rest of the crown is impressed by two grooves 

 at right angles in the shape of a T, one dividing it from the two 

 outer demi-cones, the other and deeper groove dividing the rest 

 of the crown into two transverse wedge-shaped eminences ; there 

 are, also, anterior and posterior basal ridges : the anterior eminence 

 is almost obsolete in the first premolar, which is the smallest and 

 triangular : they are nearly equal in the rest, and their summits 

 extend obliquely to the anterior part of the opposite demi-cones, 

 which have a small tubercle at the inner angle of their interspace ; 

 when much worn these teeth present two peninsular folds of enamel 

 one extending from the inner to near the outer part of the crown ; the 

 other, shorter and wider, continued a little way from the posterior 

 margin of the crown. The type of the molars of the Palseothere 

 and Rhinoceros is, here, feebly repeated. The anterior basal ridge 

 rises into a small cusp in the second premolar, which increases 

 in size in the third and fourth : in this tooth the transverse 



