T A P 



be seen in the hog, strikes the observer forcibly. But th- 

 pyramid of the Tapir differs from that of the hog in having 

 only three faces; and also in this, that its anterior line i 

 formed by the meeting of the lateral faces, and it is onl} 

 towards the front that it is dilated into a triangle, which i 

 due to the frontal bones : these are early united and directei 

 a little backwards. At the middle of the base of this tri 

 angle, to which the bones of the nose are articulated, is ( 

 point which penetrates between them ; and from the twc 

 sides above the orbits descends a deep furrow producee 

 by the structure of the upper border of the orbit, am 

 which approaches towards the suborbital hole : it serves 

 for the insertion of the muscles of the proboscis. The 

 orbit descends lower than the mid-height of the head, is 

 very wide, and has the postorbital apophyses but little 

 marked. 



That part of the cranium which is in the temporal fossa 

 is convex. The occiput is a small demi-oval extremely 

 concave plate, because the occipital crest projects con- 

 siderably backwards in a parabolic shape. The occipita' 

 bone ascends on the cranium. The frontal bones descent: 

 largely in the temple, and are there articulated with the 

 lachrymal, the palatine, the two sphenoids, and the tem- 

 poral bone. The parietals are square, very large, occu- 

 ; a great portion of the sagittal crest, and united also 

 i iut ween them. The nasal bones are no less striking 

 than the form of the cranium. They are very short, arti- 

 culated to the frontals by their base, and to those of the 

 by a descending apophysis ; but they are free and 

 projecting, forming a kind of triangular penthouse above 

 the cavity of the nostrils. This structure, which reminds 

 the observer of that of the elephant, indicates the pre- 

 sence of a moveable proboscis. The aperture of the 

 osseous nostrils thus becomes extremely long, nearly hori- 

 zontal, and bordered in great part by the maxillary bones, 

 which advance well beyond the bones of the nose, to form 

 the projecting part of the muzzle ; they carry the inter- 

 maxillary bones which (a remarkable thing, observes C'u- 

 vier were anchylosed together in the individual examined 

 In him, although it was very young, and consequently 

 formed but a single bone, and Cuvier remarked the same 

 conformation in other crania. It was only in a nascent 

 tapir, when no tooth had come forth, that he found the 

 suture which separates the maxillaries from each other. 

 These same intermaxillaries form a ceiling under the 

 orbit. The lower border of the orbit and the half of the 

 arch are due to the OK mala; or jusral bone : the rest to the 

 temporal bone. The zycomatic arch is cuned downwards 

 at its anterior portion, and upwards at its posterior por- 

 tion : it, projects moderately outwards. The os unjfuis, or 

 lachrymal bone, touches the malar bone, and advances a 

 little on the cheek, and moderately in the orbit. There 

 o lachrymal bones in the very border of the orbit, 

 separated by an apophysis, the upper of which is the 

 largest. The suborbital hole is oval, rather large, and at 

 a little distance in front of the suture, which unites the 

 and the lachrymal to the maxillary bone. The 

 '!e is elliptical and very long, in great part, 

 in the maxillary. The posterior nasal fossa? notch the 

 palate towards the fifth molar. The suture which sepa- 

 ihe palatine from the maxillary bone corresponds 

 with the third. The palatine bones contribute much to 

 the ptcryir'iid nt'f, and the sphenoid very little : these 

 re short and truncate, with a small hook which 

 represents the internal ptery,'"id wing, and which remains 

 considerable time a detached bone. The sphenoid 

 hone docs not rea'-h the parietal in the temporal f 



mains separated from it by the squamose portion. 

 : :ilatine bone there forms a, lonir and narrow tract, 

 vhicli proceed-, forward for the length of the upper border 

 maxillary bone up to the suborhi'.al canal. Behind 

 noid cavity of the temporal bone, which is very 

 large, is a semicircular lamina, descending vertically and 

 ling itvlf forwards and inwards: it interrupts the la- 

 ind posterior motion of the lower jaw. Between this 

 lamina and the mastoid apophysis is a rather narrow notch 

 he meatii auditorim internus is found. The mas- 

 Is as low as this lamina. It rca 

 i I bone by its anterior tubercle, and the occi- 

 analogous to the spheno-pala- 



i< in the nuii orbital tract of the palatine bone, 



-o-palatinc bone is below it, on 

 with the. maxillary bone. The 



47 



TAP 



optic foramen is small, and placed on the suture of the 

 frontal and of the anterior sphenoid bones. The spheno- 

 orbital and round foramina are only separated from each 

 other by a delicate lamina. There is a rather large vidian 

 canal. The oval hole is confounded with the anterior and 

 posterior apertures, so that a great portion of the petrous 

 bone is separated from the sphenoid and basilary by a space. 

 The tympanic bone does not appear to be ever anchylosed 

 with the neighbouring bones, and falls easily, as in the 

 hedgehog, the opossum, &c. 



The lower jaw exhibits a striking width at its ascending 

 ramus, and presents a rounded contour backwards at its 

 posterior angle. Its coronoid apophysis elevates itself in 

 the form of a pointed falx above the condyle, which is 

 transverse and large. The two jaws are a little concave 

 laterally at the vacant interval of the teeth, and are very 

 much narrowed there ; their edge is trenchant. 



Skull of American Tapir. 



Bones of the Neck and Trunk. The lateral apophyses 

 of the atlas are wide, but little extended outwards: the 

 spinous process of the axis is an elevated crest ; the trans- 

 verse processes are small and irregular; the odontoid is 

 large and obtuse ; the transverse processes ' of the three 

 succeeding vertebrae descend obliquely, are a little widened 

 at the end and cut nearly square ; their spinous processes 

 are very small. The fifth cervical vertebra has a small 

 apophysis on its transverse process, which, for the rest, 

 resembles that of the preceding vertebra 1 , but is rather 

 onircr : its spinous process is also rather longer ; still more 

 s that of the seventh vertebra, the transverse process of 

 which is very small in short, a simple tubercle. The arti- 

 cular facets of the cervical vertebrae rise obliquely from 

 within outwards, so that the articular facet of one vertebra 

 s below that which responds to the preceding vertebra. 

 The bodies of the vertebrae are convex forward and con- 

 cave behind, an organisation which is more or less re- 

 Jeated in the rest of the spine. The number of dorsal 

 ertebnt' amounts to twenty ; the spinous apophysis of the 

 second is the longest. They decrease and incline back- 

 vards to the eleventh, from which they become straight, 

 iquare, and nearly equal. Their articular apophyses are 

 ,0 fitted that those of one vertebra are in advance and 

 ibove those which correspond with it in the vertebra below. 

 Juvier found twenty pairs of ribs in one individual, nine- 

 een in another, eight of which are true, all slender and 

 ounded for the greatest part of their length. The breast - 

 rone is composed of five bones : its anterior portion is 

 :ompressed, and projects in the form of a ploughshare, 

 ^here are four lumbar vertebrae, the transverse apophyses 

 f which are rather large. Those of the last, which are 

 ather shorter and oblique, are articulated with the first 

 acral vertebra. These transverse apophyses have on their 

 )ase the same elevated crests as the dorsals have for arti- 

 ulation with the ribs. 



The os sacrum of the adult consists' of seven vertebrae, 

 he spinous apophyses of which are distinct and inclined 



ards; the five last of these apophyses are short and 

 crminate by a widened disk. The tail has seven ver- 

 ebraa. 



v nf the Extremities. The blade-bone has a strong 

 emicircular notch towards the lower part of its anterior 

 'order; the rest of this border is round as well as the 

 pper border : the posterior border makes an angle up- 



and then descends a little concave. There is neither 



ion nor coracoid process, if a hook-like process be 

 excepted. The spine of the bone terminates at the lower 



of it; its greatest projection is at its middle ; the 

 is oval and higher than it is long. This 



