T A r 



50 



I A I' 



of tin- elephant : neek rather long ; skin rather thick, and 

 ,1 \\iili h.iir, looking as if it had ln-cn close sluirn : 

 two inguinal niammtr. Anterior feet with four l.n -, : pos- 

 terior feet with 1 1 



Dental formula: incisors^; canines : r ; molars .7 



11 o o 



=42. 



Teeth of Sumatran Tapir 



Geographical Dixtrihutimi. Asia and America. M. 

 Lesson observes that it was for a long time believed that 

 this genus was peculiar to America : but that the rich nnd 

 beautiful discoveries of MM. Diard and Duvaucel have 

 proved that it is also proper to Asia : of which observation 

 more will presently be said. 



i ic TAPIU. 



Up to the year 1810 it appears to have been thought 

 that the Tapir form was confined to America, and tin- 

 species known in collections as the American Tapir 

 to have been regarded as the only example of the : 

 M. I.c-son, who >o swccpiii^ly chums the discovers of the 

 Asiatic species for French naturalists, is not the on : 



of that country who puts I'oith .-ueli pretensions. 

 ' :mctt has thus "corrected those pretensions: 



1 Some vague notices had reached Sir Stamford Raffles 

 of the existence of a similar animal in Sumatra and the 

 Malayan Peninsula : but to Major Farquhar belongs the 

 credit of bavins; first procured a specimen and submitted 

 its description to the world at large. The hislory of this 

 transaction affords too striking an illuslialion oftfie injus- 

 tice of certain among tin- French yoologi.sts 1o the meiits 

 of Our countrymen to be passed over without observation. 

 " The knowledge of this animal in I 



marest, in his Mainmalogic.' carefully shielding himself 

 under an equivocal form of expression, " is due to M. 

 Diard." But M. LesttD goes farther; and echni 

 the dicta of his prcd Hi a slight addition of his 



own. speaks of the Indian tapir asaspccu s " di -covered by 

 \I. Diaid." Again, in Ihe ' Dictionnanc dc- Seienc 

 turelles,' M. Dc-marcst, forgetful of his former caution, 

 heightens the farce still more by averting that its "dis- 

 covery in the forces nf Sumatra and the Peninsula of Ma- 

 lacca i due to MM. Duvaucel and Diard." In none nf 

 thc-e works is the leu.st indication given that the animal 

 in question had previously been even seen by an English- 



man ; much less is the fact suffered to tian-pirc that long 

 M. Diard had "discovered" it. not in the forests of 

 Sumatra or the Malayan Peninsula, but in the menagerie 

 of the (niM-nior-gi-neral of Mritish India at Barrackp 

 full description, together with a figure of the animal and 

 of its skull, had been laid before the Asiatic Socielv by 

 Major Farquhar, for publication in their Researches. 1 

 This latter circumstance, it is true, was not mentioned by 

 M . Frederick ( 'in ier when he figured the tapir of Malacca 

 in his splendid work, from a drawing made by M. Diard 

 in the iJarrackpore menagerie, or by that gentleman him- 

 self in the published part of his accompanying letter: 

 but there seems (o have been no int. ilieir parts 



wilfully to mislead their readers. That M. Diait} at least 

 could not have beer. i>yam nch desire is fully 



proved t>\ several pa.-sagcs in the note appended by him 

 to Major Farqnhar's original description, in which he 

 speaks of the gallant officer as the excellent naturalist 

 who h: ith sn important a <! 



and attributes the "honour" to him "a 'one. ' Ha mil ('uv'icr 

 too. in the recent edition of hi- R.igne Animal.' silently 

 rejects the unmerited distinction in favor of his stepson 

 and friend ; and candidly quote-., as the first descnber. 

 our. in this instance, more fortunate countryman.* 

 this, we trust that we shall hear no more of t lie" disc. 

 of the Indian tapir In MM. Diard and Dnxanccl. wlio 

 have too many real claims on the consideration of zoo- 

 logists to require tc be tricked out in the borrowed plumes 

 with which it has hitherto been the fashion among our 

 neighbours to invest them.' (Thfdn. <strie 



ofihc7.ru ir/i/ ilffl Ill'tltnl. vol. 



Dr. Hoi-'. - that the first intelligence of the 



fi-tence of this inteiesting animal in Sumatra was given 

 the government of Fort Marlborough at Bencoolen, in 

 the year 1772, by Mr. Whalfeldt, who was enipKn. 

 making a survey of the coast. In the month of April in 

 that year, it is. according to Dr. Horsfield, noticed in the 

 records, that Mr. Whalfeldt laid before the government 

 his observations on the place* southward of ( 'awoor. where 

 he met with the tapir at the month of one of the i 

 He considered it to be the hippopotamus, and described 

 it In that name; but the drawing which accompanied the 

 report identities it. says the Doctor, with the tapir. Dr. 



.Id adds that this mistake in the name may readily 

 be explained, when it is recollected that in the lentil 

 edition of the Sy-tcma Nat urns' of Linmvus the tapir is 

 placed a- ;\ .species of hippopotamus, while in the twelfth 

 edition no mention is made of that animal. 



Tlu> learned author of the ' Hist. Wil- 



liam Mar-den. KM|..' continues Dr. Ilorstield. was at that 

 time - Hincnt at llciieooleii : and the 



public OWe* to hi ...llccting even valuable infor- 



mation relating to that island the lir-l notice of the . 

 ence of this animal, which is by the Mala\s in many 



denominated Kiulu Mppo-potamns. 



A tier the first di-eoveiy. in 177'-!. the !. 

 for a coiisideiable period. Fiom the same e: 

 Sir T. S. Rallies which ha- fnrni-hcd the dc-cripti 



- that in the \ .i\ing spceiim 



1<, sir (leoigc l.c ith.'v. hen lieutenant -governor of Pel 



It \\a ;uhar in the \\- 



oinitv of Malacca. A diawing and description of it 



\ him to the- Asiatic Society in Islli, and 

 a living subject .arils sent to the menage 



liarraekimre from Uencooleu. At this place a drawing 

 was made In M. Diard in the year ISlS, which, a. 

 panied In ail extract from the dc.-ciiption of Major Far- 



'Hinicated to his fii, 

 in March. ISM). M. Ficd. Cuvier published it in hi- 



lilhographic work on the mammalia of the menagerie in 



Pans.' 



1 In the month of September, lii, the first specimen of 



tin- Ma::nau tapir was received ill England I'lom Sir 

 . inford Raffles, with the general 1 col- 



lection of mammalia and birds, the descriptive catalogue 

 of which, being contained in the 13th vol. of the 'Tians- 

 actions of the I.inman Society.' has been already referred 

 to. This specimen of tapir was accompanied by a com- 

 plete skeleton, and the ihoiaeic and abdominal \: 



preserved i wine.' Dr. Horefleld then rel 



the use made b\ Sir Kveiaid Home of these materials in 

 tiie pap. .illuded ty. 



Calling him ' Farklnrie' Iwwevcr. 



