880 DR. J. K. GRAY ON THE TAPIRID^. [NoV. 14, 



Var. 3. With a small additional premolar close in front of the 

 hase of the usual first premolar on the right side of the lower jaw. 



Hippopotamus terrestris, Linn. S. N. p. 174. 



Tapirus americanus, Schreb. Saugeth. t. 319 ; Cuvier, Oss. Foss. 

 iii. p. 277, t. 66-68 ; Blainv. Osteog. Ongulig. t. 1,5; P. Z. S. 

 1850, p. 102; 1851, p. 121; 1859, p. 51 ; 1860, pp. 181, 261. 



T. ant a, Zimm. 



T. terrestris, Gray, List j\Iamm. B. M. p. 184 ; Gerrard, Catal. 

 Bones, B. M. p. 275. 



T. suillus, A.Wagner, Schreb. Saugeth. iv. p. 777, t. 319 ; P. Z. S. 

 1860, p. 201. 



Tapirete, Marcg. Bras. p. 229, fig. 

 . Tapirou Vanta, Buff. H. N. xi. p. 444, t. 43. 



Junior. Cabani elephantipede, Geoff. ^lus. Paris ; Desm. N. Diet. 

 H. N. p. 503. 



The British Museum possesses six skulls of this species. Four 

 skulls are of full-grown or nearly full-grown animals ; one is young, 

 with only four grinders ; and another is young, with only the milk- 

 teeth. 



These skulls show that this species is found in Brazil (where it was 

 obtained by Mr. jNIiers), and also in Berbice and Demerara. The 

 specimen from the latter country was obtained by Sir Robert Schom- 

 burgk. 



The skull of the younger animal, which has only the four or 

 five grinders developed (even when tlie other grinders are being de- 

 veloped), has the front edge of the hinder nasal aperture in a line 

 with the hinder edge of the last well-developed grinder — that is to say, 

 the fourth or fifth, as that tooth may happen to be the last well- 

 developed one. A skull in this state is figured by Cuvier, Oss. Foss. 

 ii. t. 2. f. 2 ; but the last or fifth grinder, canines, and cutting-teeth 

 are represented more developed than they ought to be to agree with 

 our specimens. This position of the aperture has been verified in a 

 series of five skulls of animals with the teeth in five different states of 

 development. The aperture is figured in its proper position in the 

 adult skull. 



In the skull of the nearly adult animal, in which the last or 

 seventh grinder is not completely formed, but of a moderate size and 

 nearly ready to pass through the gums, the front edge of the internal 

 nasal aperture is in a line with the back edge of the sixth or penul- 

 timate grinder, as in the skulls of the adult animals which have cut 

 the last or seventh grinder. The internal nasal aperture probably 

 slightly changes its place when the animal increases in age, or is 

 sometimes liable to variation. 



In the skull of an adult (perhaps rather aged) animal, which has 

 all the seven grinders well developed, in the British Museum, and 

 which agrees with the adult skull of the common Brazilian Tapir, the 

 front edge of the hinder nasal aperture is rather more forward than 

 in the other adult skull ; that is to say, the front edge is in a line 

 with the middle of the sixth or penultimate middle grinder. The 



