377 



tially In any respect but in its size, from that species which we know living, 

 and whose fossil remains, we have just seen, have been also sometimes 

 found. The size of this animal could not have exceeded half that 

 of the ordinary species; and it is evident, from the state of its teeth, and 

 from the advanced progress of ossification, that its inferior size could not 

 have proceeded from its being a young animal, but from its having been 

 of a distinct species. 



In one of its large grinders, it appeared that, contrary to the hori- 

 zontally worn surface of these teeth in the ordinary hippopotamus, it was 

 worn obliquely on the anterior side, showing that its projections had shut 

 in between the risings of the opposite tooth. 



But a more important difference was observable in the lower jaw. The 

 hippopotamus is the only known animal whose jaw, at its inferior and 

 posterior angle, turns backward, and forms a broad hook-formed process. 

 In this small animal, this hook-formed process not only was also ob- 

 servable, but it was found to be carried much further backward. In the 

 common hippopotamus, the turn which it makes describes the fourth of a 

 circle ; but in this animal the turn forms a crescent, and is equal to half a 

 circle. 



The tapir is one of the pachydermata, and forms a genus in which 

 there is but one species: it is an animal of South America. It is 

 formed like a hog ; and although only the height of an ass, it is the 

 largest animal known in those parts. Its snout is elongated into a trunk, 

 which, although not long, is moveable like that of the elephant. The 

 fore-feet have four equal-sized toes, and the hind feet three, all of which 

 have hoofs. It has, in each jaw, six incisive teeth, and two canine, which 

 are not longer than the incisors. The skin is black, and almost without 

 hairs. It is a quiet and docile animal, which lives on the banks of rivers, 

 and feeds on reeds, sugar-canes, &c. 



The tapir not having been known but in South America, it was with 

 great pleasure that M. Cuvier ascertained the existence of the fossil 

 remains, in France, of some animal of the same species, or very nearly 



VOL. in. 3 c 



