OF CREATION. 283 



its food only by night. With the exception of the 

 hog, it is the most truly omnivorous of the tribe of 

 animals to which it belongs, for scarcely anything 

 comes amiss to its ravenous appetite. Its most com- 

 mon food is vegetable, and consists of wild fruits, 

 buds, and shoots.* 



The description of the habits of the tapir would 

 probably require little change to be applied to the Lo- 

 phiodon^ a genus of extinct pachyderms most nearly 

 resembling the tapir, but known only by imperfect 

 fragments. A considerable number of species (up- 

 wards of twelve) are however known ; and one is 

 as large as the largest rhinoceros, but the others are 

 much smaller, and one does not equal in size the 

 smallest variety of pig. Fragments of four species of 

 this genus have been determined from the English 

 eocene beds, and all of them probably inhabited the 

 drier parts of the land. 



The PalceotJierium { is much better known than 

 the Lophiodon, probably because it was an inhabi- 

 tant of districts nearer water, into which its remains 

 were readily drifted. Like the Lophiodon, the dif- 

 ferent species (which are numerous) varied greatly 

 in size. Portions of the skeletons of these animals 

 have been found in the gypsum-quarries near Paris, 

 so nearly perfect, that there remains no doubt what- 

 ever as to the general form and proportions of several 

 of the species. They were all provided with a short 

 fleshy snout or proboscis ; and, in the arrangement, 



* Gardens and menagerie of the Zoological Society delineated, vol. i. 

 p. 202. 



t Ao0ja (lophia), a crest ; odovQ (odous), a tooth, 

 t HaXaioQ (palceus), old ; Qripiov (therion), a beast. 



