274 ZOOLOGY. 



to the tapir, especially Coryplwdon, Anoplotherium, PalaO' 

 therium, etc., were generalized or ancestral forms, from 

 which the modern, more specialized types have probably 

 been evolved, and a study of these fossil Ungulates shows 

 that there was then {i.e., in Eocene times) an essential 

 unity of organization in all Ungulates, including the 

 Ruminants; the breaking up of the Ungulate stem into 

 special groups, along favored lines or paths of development, 

 having resulted in a gradual improvement and elaboration 

 of particular parts, which rendered them more fitted for 

 their present life, and more intelligent in meeting and 

 overcoming the emergencies their more complex surround- 

 ing subjected them to. Thus in the Eocene Ungulates, 

 such as Coryphodon, the cerebrum was small, without convo- 

 lutions, indicating a slight degree of intelligence compared 

 with the modern Ungulates, while the gradual differentia- 

 tion of the horse, with its single toe and hoof, from its tapir- 

 like ancestors, is a marked example of the intelligent, 

 beneficent selection of favored, useful types which has gone 

 on from the earliest geological times. 



All this specialization of type involved the destruction of 

 great numbers of forms unfitted to withstand changes in 

 their surroundings, or not sufficiently intelligent or wary 

 to avoid the attacks of carnivorous forms, and thus the 

 present number of Ungulates is much exceeded by the 

 fossil forms. 



Perissodactyles. The odd-toed Ungulates, on the whole, 

 stand lower than the even-toed forms. They all have at 

 least twenty-two dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, and a simple 

 stomach, with a large, sacculated ccecum. The tapirs are 

 the more elementary, generalized forms. Fossil tapirs occur 

 in the older Tertiary beds of the West. The snout is almost 

 proboscis-like, and the legs are moderately long, with four 

 toes in front, three toes behind. The tapirs inhabit the 

 tropics of the New World and Sumatra. The American 

 tapir ranges from east of the Andes from the Isthmus of 

 Darien to the Straits of Magellan. It lives in deep forests 



