TAPIRID^E 371 



triangular, and pointed in front. Vertebrae: C 7, D 18, L 5, S 6, 

 C about 12. Limbs short and stout. Fore feet with four toes, 

 having distinct hoofs : the first is absent, the third the longest, the 

 second and fourth nearly equal, the fifth the shortest and scarcely 

 reaching the ground in the ordinary standing position. Hind feet 

 with the typical Perissodactyle arrangement of three toes, the 

 middle one being the largest, the two others nearly equal. Nose 

 and upper lip elongated into a flexible, mobile snout or short pro- 

 boscis, near the end of which the nostrils are situated. Eyes rather 

 small. Ears of moderate size, ovate, erect. Tail very short. Skin 

 thick and but scantily covered with hair. 



The existing species of Tapir may be grouped into two sections, 

 the distinctive characters of which are only recognisable in the 

 skeleton. (A) With a great anterior prolongation of the ossifica- 

 tion of the nasal septum (mesethmoid), extending in the adult far 

 beyond the nasal bones, and supported and embraced at the base 

 by ascending plates from the maxillae (genus Elasmognathus, Gill). 

 Two species, both from Central America, Tapirus bairdi and T. dowi. 

 The former is found in Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, 

 and Panama ; the latter in Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica. 

 (B) With ossification of the septum not extending farther forward 

 than the nasal bones (Tapirus proper). Three species, T. indicus, 

 the largest of the genus, from the Malay Peninsula (as far north as 

 Tavoy and Mergui), Sumatra, and Borneo, distinguished by its 

 peculiar coloration, the head, neck, fore and hind limbs, being glossy 

 black, and the intermediate part of the body white ; T. americanus 

 (T. terrestris, Linn.), the common Tapir of the forests and lowlands 

 of Brazil and Paraguay (Fig. 152) ; and T. roulini, the Pinchaque 

 Tapir of the high regions of the Andes. All the American species 

 are of a nearly uniform dark brown or blackish colour when adult ; 

 but it is a curious circumstance that when young (and in this the 

 Malay species conforms with the others) they are conspicuously 

 marked with spots and longitudinal stripes of white or fawn colour 

 on a darker ground. 



The habits of all the kinds of Tapirs appear to be very similar. 

 They are solitary, nocturnal, shy, and inoffensive, chiefly frequent- 

 ing the depths of shady forests and the neighbourhood of water, to 

 which they frequently resort for the purpose of bathing, and in 

 which they often take refuge when pursued. They feed on various 

 vegetable substances, as shoots of trees and bushes, buds, and 

 leaves. They are hunted by the natives of the lands in which they 

 live for the sake of their hides and flesh. 



The singular fact of the existence of so closely allied animals as 

 the Malayan and the American Tapirs in such distant regions of the 

 earth, and in no intervening places, is accounted for by what is 

 known of the geological history of the race ; for the Tapirs must 



