ORDER V. 



I PACHYDERMATA. 



Animals with from three to five toes, enveloped, or furnished with hoofs instead of claws ; metacarpal and metatarsal bones 

 short and distinct. 



In the sketch of the orders of mammalia, on page 1 of this report, the diagnoses of the 

 Pacliydermata and Ruminantia were accidentally transposed, while the form was on the press, 

 and the edition of the sheet printed off before the error was detected. The paragraphs should 

 read : 



VIII. Pachydermata, with more than two hoofs. 



IX. Ruminantia, with two hoofs. 



The error, however, is sufficiently palpable to be corrected at once. The diagnoses given of 

 these, as well as of the other orders, are not presented as expressing their true or essential 

 peculiarities, but merely as a convenient artificial analysis in which the characters assigned should 

 be readily evident to the most casual observation. The Ruminantia have, in most cases, more 

 than two hoofs, although there are but two in contact with the ground ; above this level there 

 may usually be seen two others of much smaller size. The American antelope, however, 

 (Antilocapra americana) has in reality only two hoofs on each foot, the smaller ones begin 

 entirely wanting. 



In the existence of only one living native species of Pachydermata, it will not be necessary to 

 go into any minute account of the characters of the order and of its subdivisions. Nearly all 

 the principal systematic writers differ in their views on this subject, some of them very widely. 

 For my present purposes I have selected the arrangement of G-iebel, as based upon a combination 

 of all the living and fossil forms. 



The Multungula, according to this author, or Pachydermata, in the most extensive sense of 

 the word, are almost entirely of large size, embracing the most colossal of recent or fossil land 

 animals. Their body is covered by a thickened skin, beset, more or less thickly, with bristly 

 hairs. The number of toes varies from three to five, not always of the same size on the fore 

 and hind feet. The muzzle is usually much developed, often extended into a snout of greater 

 or less extent. The eyes are mostly very small. The neck is short and thick ; the body stout, 

 and supported on short, massive limbs, showing little indication of joints. The tail is short 

 and slender, except in some fossil forms. 



The teeth vary very much in number, shape, and structure. The incisors, canines, and 

 molars are usually all present, the two former are never both absent at the same time. 



The subdivision of this order, according to Giebel, are into the following families : 



1. Probosddea. Animals of colossal size, with the nose extended into a very long, prehensile snout, the upper incisors changed 

 to enormous tusks ; the head short and expanded above by large sinuses ; neck very short ; body short and thick ; the limbs 

 high, and without any angles or bends ; the toes five, united to the hoofs. 



It is in this family that we find the elephant of modern, and the mastodon of ancient times 

 79 L 



