CHORDA TA 



379 



remains are very numerous in America, and its ancestors have 

 been traced back as far as the little Eohippus, about the size of 

 a fox, which has four toes with a rudimentary fifth on its front 

 feet, and three on its hind feet. The domestic horse is Equus 

 cab alius. The ass, Equus asinus, lives wild in Asia and Africa ; 

 the quagga and the zebra are confined to Africa and are con- 

 spicuous because of their handsome stripes. 



The tapirs are found in southeastern Asia, including India and 

 some of the East Indies, and in Central and South America. 



FIG. 371. Rhinoceros unicornis, the Indian rhinoceros. (From a photograph provided by 

 the American Museum of Natural History.) 



They have a soft skin with short hair and a very rudimentary 

 tail; the upper lip is elongated into a sort of proboscis ; the fore- 

 feet have four toes, the hind feet three. They feed upon the 

 leaves and young shoots of shrubs and trees. The largest 

 species is found in India; it attains a length of nearly two and 

 a half meters, and a height at the shoulder of almost a meter. 

 The rhinoceroses (Fig. 371), of which there are six living 

 species, differ strikingly from the horses and tapirs in having a 

 very thick skin, often characteristically folded into large shields 

 or plates, and with few hairs, and in having one or two horns 



