MAMMALIA 



393 



close to that of the most primitive eutherian mammals. There are 

 four toes on the fore feet and three on the hind feet. The tapirs are 

 confined to South and Central America and to the Malay Peninsula. 

 Family 8. Rhinocerotidce (Rhinoceroses). This family consists of a 

 few species of large, massive animals, whose general appearance is 

 familiar to all (Fig. 200, C) . They are distinguished by the presence 



FIG. 200. Group of Perissidactyla (Odd-toed Ungulates). A, Burchell's 

 Zebra, Equus burchelli; B, American Tapir, Tapirus terrestris; C, African Rhinoc- 

 eros, Rhinoceros bicornis. (Redrawn and modified: A, B, after Beddard; C, after 

 Lydekker.) 



of median "horns" on the nose; but the structures are not true horns, 

 being composed of masses of agglutinated hair fastened to a rough- 

 ened patch of the nasal bones. There are usually three, sometimes 

 four, toes on the fore feet, but in either case the third toe is the most 

 important; the hind feet always have three toes. The upper lip is 

 long and more or less prehensile, but not elongated into a proboscis 

 as in the tapirs. The skin is extremely thick and the hair very sparse. 

 They are fierce and intractable, charging at an enemy with great 

 fury and stopping at nothing. Only guns of large caliber and hard- 



