CLASS MAMMALS: ORDER PROBOSCIDEA. 



79 



only to the skin, is movable ; when, however, the animal is 

 enraged, it becomes fixed as though a part of the bone itself. 

 Individuals attain the weight of 6000 pounds. 



Fig. 123. 



Taplnts bicUor^ Indian Archipelago. 



Tapiridae. The Tapir links the artiodactyls and perisso- 

 dactyls, its fore feet having four toes and its hind feet 

 three. Flight being its Fig m , 



only means of defence, 

 the head, covered with 

 hard skin and shaped like 

 a conical wedge, is adapt- 

 ed for boring through 

 tangled brushwood. The 

 uniform black color of 

 the South American Ta- 

 pir is in striking contrast 

 to the white back of the 



Indian. Taplrus americanus. 



ORDER PROBOSCIDEA. 



Elephantidse. The Elephant is the largest of living 

 quadrupeds, attaining eight to ten feet in height and 10,000 

 pounds in weight. It roams the forest in herds of twenty or 

 more, and is supposed to live over one hundred years. Un- 



