238 



THE TAPIRS. 



THE Tapirs are the last of the existing animals 

 which we have to notice, belonging, as we before 

 stated, to the Anoplotheres of Swainson, who has 

 used this extinct and comparatively unknown 

 form as the type of one of his families. They 

 are very remarkable, exhibiting a rounded com- 

 pact form, standing a considerable height from 

 the ground, and having the nose and nostrils 

 more prolonged than in any of the Pachydermes, 

 except the Elephant, employing this part of their 

 structure as an organ of touch and smell, and 

 partially of prehension. Three species are known, 

 two inhabiting America, and one part of the 

 Asiatic Islands ; while it is said that D'Orbigny 

 has discovered a new animal belonging to this 

 group, in South America, but it has not yet been 

 noticed in the numbers of his important voyages 

 at this time published. They are harmless 

 and inoffensive creatures, never attacking unless 

 attacked ; sluggish in the extreme, according to 



