PACHYDERMATA. 159 



to each foot ; they had also, like the Tapirs, a short fleshy proboscis, for 

 the muscles of which instrument the bones of the nose were shortened, 

 leaving a deep notch underneath. We discovered the bones of this genus 

 mixed with those of the Anoplotherium in the gypsum quarries (a) near 

 Paris. They also exist in many other parts of France. 



Eleven or twelve species are known already. At Paris alone we 

 find them the size of a Horse, of a Tapir, and of a small Sheep, 

 while near Orleans are found the bones of a species that must have 

 been as large as the Rhinoceros. These animals appear to have 

 frequented the shores of lakes and marshes, for the rocks which con- 

 ceal their bones also contain fresh water shells. See my Oss. Foss. 

 tom. III. The 



LOPHIODON, ClW., 



Is another lost genus, which appears to be closely allied to the preceding 

 one ; its inferior grinders, however, have transverse ridges. Ten or twelve 

 species have been extracted from our old fresh water formations, the same 

 in which the Palaeotherium is found. See my Oss. Foss,, tom. III. 

 To these genera should succeed the genus 



Tapir, Lin. 



The Tapirs, in which the twenty-seven molars, before they are worn, 

 all present two transverse and rectilinear prominences ; in front, there are, 

 in each jaw, six incisors and two canines, separated from the molars by an 

 empty space. The nose resembles a small fleshy proboscis; there are 

 four toes to the fore feet, and three to the hind ones. For a long time 

 but a single species was known, 



T. americamts, L. ; Buff. Supp. VI. i. (The American Tapir). 

 Size of a small Ass ; skin brown and nearly naked : tail moderate ; 

 neck fleshy, forming a sort of crest on the nape. Common in wet 

 places, and along the rivers in the warm parts of South America. 

 The young ones are spotted with white like the fawn. The flesh is 

 eaten. 



Within a few years a second species has been discovered in the 

 old continent. 



T. indicus, Farkharie, Sot. Asait., tom. XIV. ; Horsfield, Jav. 

 Miaha, Fr. Cuv. Mammif. (The Tapir of India). Larger than 

 that of America, of a black-brown ; the back of a whitish grey. It 

 inhabits the forests of Malacca, island of Sumatra, &c. 



i^ (a) These quarries occur in detached hills, along the course of the Maine 

 and Seine, near Paris, and they consist of alternating beds of gypsum and argillace- 

 ous with calcareous marl. The animal alluded to, is of the size of the horse, is 

 supposed by Cuvier to have inhabited marshy ground, and to have fed on the roots 

 and stems of succulent plants. Another animal is mentioned by Cuvier, as re- 

 sembling in its size, and light figure, the Antelope; this species he considers to have 

 browsed on aromatic plants, or on the buds of young trees; it was probably, con- 

 tinues Cuvier, a timid animal, with large moveable ears, like those of the deer, 

 which could be sensible to the slightest sound that indicated danger. — Eng. Ed. 



