194 THE MAMMALIA. 



Post Tertiary is followed by the tapir itself. That 

 the animal migrated to its present home in South 

 America is probably certain. Now Eocene races 

 existed in the Eastern as well as in the Western 

 Hemisphere, whose origin and separation is in- 

 deed unknown, but the form and character of 

 the feet and teeth would require but small 

 changes to produce the genus Tapir. Hence it is 

 here again merely a matter of opinion (owing to 

 the present state of our knowledge) whether, with 

 Marsh, we consider it more likely that the original 

 home of the tapirs is assigned to the New World, 

 and that they are supposed to have migrated to 

 Asia, or vice versa ; or again, if, with Carl Vogt, a 

 parallel development is considered the more prob- 

 able hypothesis. 



By the side of our present tapirs, and unmistak- 

 ably allied to them in the formation of foot and 

 dentition, stand the Rhinoceroses, which are dis- 

 tributed over Southern Asia, with its large islands, 

 and Africa. The head weapons are solid horny 

 projections of the nasal bone, which rise into a 

 flat hump within equalities of the bone substance. 

 From this characteristic feature it can in most 

 cases be determined whether the fossil animals of 

 the Ehinoceros species possessed horns. 



