Family TAPIBID.E. 



Genus TAPIRUS, Brissoii (1766). 



The last and least specialized family of surviving Perissodactyle 

 Ungulates again consists of a single genus, having four toes on 

 each fore, and three on each hind foot. The general form is heavy, 

 the limbs short and stout, the tail short, the ears oval, the eyes 

 small, and the nose and upper lip produced into a snout or short 

 proboscis. 



The skull is compressed laterally and is rather high. There are 

 no true postorbital processes. The anterior opening of the nares is 

 very large ; the nasals are short, triangular, pointed in front, and 

 widely separated from the preinaxillaries. 



Dentition: i. ^ c. }, pm. J=J, m. J=?. The outer upper incisors 

 are large and conical, larger than the canines. Molars and p re- 

 molars bilophodont, having the crowns mainly composed of two 

 transverse ridges. 



Vertebra : C.7, D.18, L. 5, S. 6, C, about 12. The ulna and fibula 

 distinct and complete. 



Fig. 156. Crowns of (a) upper and (b) lower second right true molars of 

 Tapirus indicus, the inner side uppermost. 



One species, the largest of the genus, is Malayan and occurs in 

 Tenasserim. All other living forms are Central- or South-American. 

 Eemains of several extinct species have been discovered in Europe, 

 of one in China, and of one rather doubtful form in Burma. 



337. Tapirus indicus. The Malay Tapir. 



Tapirus indicus, Cuv.. Desmarest, Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. xxxii, 



p. 458 (1819) ; W. Sclater, Cat. p. 198. 

 Tapirus malayanus, Raffles, Tr. L. S. xiii, p. 270 (1822) ; Cantor, 



J. A. S. B. xv, p. 263 ; Blyth, Cat. p. 135 ; id. Mam. Birds Burma, 



p. 49. 



Tapirus bicolor, Wagner, Schreb. Sciugth. vi, p. 400 (1835). 

 Tara-shu, Burmese ; Kuda Ayer, Tennu, Malay. 



