

VERTEBRATA. 



■ the right and left legs causes the animal to place its feet so consider- 



make a distinct doahle track. This enterprising hunter had various adventures 



re animals. In one instance, as he tells us, he wounded a sea-cow in a river, wherc- 



; into the water, seized her by the tail, and cut a slit in the hide, upon the rump. 



to this, he forced her to the bank. He then ran a rope through the slit, and moored 



ind then dispatched her. 



irked that the hippopotamus, as well indeed as the elephant and rhinoceros, h 



ntries where il exists, ; fore the incessant and destructive war 



pon it by fire-arms. It could resist, and for ages did resist, the rude and ineffective weap- 



and barbarians, living and multiplying in spite of them; but the species must 



• . the destructive propensity and power of civilized men. 



THE TAPIR. 



THE TAPIPJILE. 



In this family the no»p is produced into a short proboscis, and the skin is covered with hair. 

 • a pyramidal form, somewhat like that of a pig; but the nasal bones are much 

 , to g - »port to the muscles of the proboscis. The jaws are fully furnished with teeth; 

 - »rs and two small canines in each jaw ; the upper jaw has seven and the lower 

 ach Bide. The ears are small, upright, and of much the same form as in the p g 

 k is high, and furnished with a sort of stiff mane; the skin is clothed with short close 

 ry short: and the fore-feet are furnished with four and the hinder with t; 

 . all disl irated, and terminate. 1 by nail-like hoofs. In their form these animals re- 



both the horse and the a<s; and thence are called by the natives wild mwfcs,and sometimes 

 Tiny live in the moist tropical forests, generally sleeping during the day in the 

 ■\ wandering forth chiefly at night to feed on "rass and other vegetable substan 

 fond of the water, and swim well. 

 I \ 1 ' 1 1 i : tapirus. — Of this, the only genus, there are several species. The best known 

 American Tapir, T. Americanos, which occurs in all parts of South America, 

 Isthn Panama almost to the southern extremity of that continent It is a ! 



animal, measuring I in length, and is of a uniform brown color. It inhabits the for 



always in the neighbor] 1 of water, in which it delights to bathe, frequently rolling in the mud 



In districts unfrequented by man it is said to move about in the daytime; but in 

 neighborhood of human habitations it i.-> more cautious, and rarely leaves its resting-place 



