THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW FOSSIL TAPIR IN 



OREGON 



A FAIRLY complete phylogenetic series of early Miocene 

 tapirs has been made known to science through the researches 

 of Messrs. Wortman,' Earle, and Hatcher.^ Between these 

 ancestral forms, referable to the genus Protapirus, and the living 

 species is a gap in the line of descent which has remained 

 unbridged until the fortunate discovery of the form presently to 

 be described. 



Our knowledge of the tapir phylum since the White River 

 epoch may be summarized in a few words. In 1873, Dr. Joseph 

 Leidy 3 described under the name Lopliiodon oregonensis, two imper- 

 fect superior molars obtained by Professor Thomas Condon at 

 Bridge Creek, Oregon. Two species have been described by 

 Professor Marsh,-^ which he refers to the genus Tapivaviis: T. rams 

 from the Loup Fork of the Rocky Mountains, and Tapiravus 

 validus from the Miocene of New Jersey. From the brevity of 

 the description and the lack of figures, these species are prac- 

 tically indeterminate. Remains of tapirs belonging to the exist- 

 ing genus are known from the Quaternary gravels of California, ^ 

 and have been described from several localities in the eastern 

 states. 



During the summer of 1900, Professor John C. Merriam and 

 Mr. V. C. Osmont, of the University of California, while collect- 

 ing in the fossil beds of the John Day valley, Oregon, obtained 



'J. L. WORTMAN and C. Earle, "Ancestors of the Tapir from the Lower 

 Miocene of Dakota," Bzill. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., Vol. V, p. 159. 



°J. B. Hatcher, "Recent and Fossil Tapirs," Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., Vol. I, 

 p. 161, 1896. 



3U. S. Geol. Surv. of the Territories, Vol. I, p. 219, PI. II, Fig. i. 



4 0. C. Marsh, Am. Jour. Sci.,^o\. XIV, p. 252, 1877. 



5 J. D. Whitney, "Aurif. Gravels," Mem. Mus. Comp. Zo'oL, Harvard, Vol. VI, 

 p. 250 ; W. P. Blake, Am. Jour. Sci. Vol. XLV, p. 381. 



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