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THE AMERICAN TAPIR. 



Tapirus Americanus LINN. 

 PLATE XXVIII. 



Mborebi, Azara.- Tapirus Americanus, Linn, also 

 Hippopotamus terrestris Tapir Americain, Lacepede 

 Tapir d' Amerique, Fred. Cuvier, Hist. Naturelle 

 des Mammif. 



THIS animal is the largest quadruped in South 

 America, and is extensively distributed over that 

 continent, extending over almost every part of it 

 east of the Andes, but probably most abundant 

 within the tropics. It reaches from five to six 

 feet in length, is powerfully formed, and is 

 covered with a scanty close lying hair, forming 

 a bristly mane upon the neck. The colour is 

 a deep brown. " The sides of the lower lip, a 

 band occupying the middle of the chin beneath, 

 the upper edges of the ears, and a naked line at 

 the junction of the hoofs, are all purely white." * 

 The young are of a lighter colour, and spotted or 

 striped for the first year at least. That de- 

 scribed by Mr Yarrel from the Zoological Society's 

 Menagerie, was " of a rusty reddish brown, with 

 * Bennet. 



