160 MAMMALIA. 



Fossil Tapirs are also scattered throughout Europe ; and among 

 others is a gigantic species, which in size must have nearly equalled 

 the Elephant (a). Tap. giganteus, Cuv. Oss. Foss,, tom. II.* 



FAMILY III. 



SOLIPEDES. 



The Solipedes are quadrupeds which have only one apparent toe, and a 

 single hoof to each foot, although under the skin, on each side of their 

 metatarsus and metacarpus, there are spurs representing two lateral toes. 

 One genus only is known, that of 



Equus, Lin. 



The Horse has six incisors in each jaw, the crowns of which, at an 

 early age, are marked with a fossula, and six molars throughout, with a 

 square crown, marked hy laminae of enamel which dip into them, with 

 four crescents, and in the upper ones, with a small disk on the inner edge. 

 The male has also two small additional canines in the upper jaw, and 

 sometimes in both, which are almost always wanting in the female. 

 Between these canines and the first molar is that unoccupied space which 

 corresponds to the angle of the lips where the bit is placed, by which 

 alone Man has been enabled to subdue these powerful animals. The 

 stomach is simple and moderate, but the intestines are very long, and the 

 caecum enormous. The mammae are between the thighs. 



E. cahallus, L. ; Buff. IV. i. (The Horse). This noble asso- 

 ciate of Man, in the chase, in war, and in the works of agriculture, 

 the arts, and commerce, is the most important and carefully attended 

 of all the animals which we have subdued. It does not seem to 

 exist any longer in a wild state, except in those places where Horses 

 formerly domesticated have been set at liberty, as in Tartary and 

 America ; there they live in troops, each of which is led and defended 

 by an old male. The young males, forcibly expelled as soon as they 

 become adults, follow the troop at a distance, until they are able to 

 attract some of the younger mares. 



The domestic colt sucks six or seven months, and the sexes are 



* Dr. Roulin has lately discovered in the Cordilleras a new species of Tapir, black 

 and covered with hair; tlie bones of its nose are more elongated, which somewhat 

 approximates it to the Palaeotherium. 



M. Schleyermacher has obtained a lower jaw bone of the great fossil animal that 

 was supposed to be a gigantic Tapir. It turns out that it is possessed of enormous 

 canines, which must have projected from the mouth; consequently, it must form a 

 separate genus. Its size may have been greater than that of the Hippopotamus by 

 one half. 



^" (a) There is a model in most museums of a tooth of this animal, which was 

 found in a perfectly fresh state in Grenoble. The tooth itself is in the collection of 

 Mr. Bakewell, the distinguished geologist. — Eng. Ed. 



