1872.] DR. J. E. GRAY ON A NEW TAPIR. 487 



croupe d'espace denue de poil. Les chasseurs qui avaient tue depuis 

 peu d'annees un grand nombre de ses animaux (plus de 30 ou 40) 

 m'assurent que l'espace nu de la croupe varie suivant les individus et 

 qu'il se voit plus grand ches les vieux ; ils croyaient que 1' animal 

 acquiert cette callosite par le frottement en glissant souvent sur 

 un sol tres-fortement incline. Quoi qu'il en soit, plusieurs de ces 

 peaux que j'ai vues conservees pour 1' usage domestique (on s'en sert 

 comme de couchettes) m'ont offert ces memes plaques plus ou moins 

 etendues. 



"Mes observations etablissent aussi quelques points sur lesquels 

 M. le Dr. Roulin n'avait pu offrir que des conjectures, savoir, 1° que 

 la nouvelle espece habite la Cordillere centrale aussi bien que la chaine 

 orientale ; 2° que la livree de la femelle est noire comme celle du male ; 

 3 U que le jeune porte la livree comme celle de l'espece commune ; 

 4° que la place nue de la croupe qui parait constante chez les adultes 

 n'est point une disposition congenitale. M. Roulin avait fait remarquer 

 l'absence du lisere blanc au bord de l'oreille des deux individus 

 males qu'il avait observes ; ma jeune femelle presentait ce lisere, mais 

 la difference dependait-elle du sexe ou de l'age? C'est ce que je ne 

 saurait decider." ('Comptes Rendus,' vol. xvi. 1843, p. 334.) 



These seem to be the only descriptions taken from the Columbian 

 animal ; and, indeed, these authors appear to be the only ones who 

 have ever seen it in its perfect state. 



Fischer, in his ' Synopsis Mammalium' published in 1829, changed 

 the name Roulin gave to it to Tapirus roulini. Wagler, in his ' Syst. 

 des Aniphib.' published in 1830, gave the name of Tapirus villosus 

 to this species ; but these authors are only compilers, and only knew 

 the animal from Roulin's description ; they never saw it. And I 

 cannot conceive why it was called villosus ; for Roulin's figure cer- 

 tainly represents the animal with very short close hair. 



The name villosus (or Hairy Tapir as it has been called by one) is 

 not applicable to the specimens of Tapirus leucogenys brought by 

 Mr. Buckley from Ecuador, which have the hair quite short and 

 rigid as that of T. terrestris, but more abundant and closer, except 

 in one nearly full-grown male from Sunia, which had the hair rather 

 longer and softer. 



It is also probably the Tapir mentioned by Mr. Robert B. White 

 as seen on the Volcano of Purace in the Central Cordillera, in the 

 southern part of Columbia. He only saw it through a telescope at 

 half a mile distance, and says it is greyish black ; he says it is never 

 found lower than 350 metres above the sea-level, and sometimes 

 ascends to 400 metres (see Proc. Zool. Soc. 1870, p. 51). Dr. Sclater 

 considers it the same as Tapirus roulini of Fischer. It is remarkable 

 that all the specimens described by the French writers under the name 

 of T. pinchaque came from Columbia, while the specimens of the 

 White-cheeked Tapir (T. leucogenys) were obtained in Ecuador ; and 

 it would be curious if they should be distinct, as the French descrip- 

 tions lead us to suspect. It would be curious to know what is the 

 species said to be found in the Cordilleras further south in Peru. 

 Tschudi, in the 'Fauna Peruana,' p. 213, says this species of Tapir 



