OS ANATOMY OF CERTAIN UNGULATA. 161 
(1) On the absence of a Pleural Cavity in the Indian Tapir. 
In dissecting, some months since, an example of the Indian 
Tapir (Vapirus indicus) which died in the Society’s Gardens, I was 
struck by the close attachment of the lungs to the wall of the 
chest-cavity. This attachment was by means of fine and multi- 
tudinous strands of a glistening appearance precisely like a much 
subdivided mesentery, and was very complete; so much so that 
it would be quite fair to speak of the pleural cavity as practically 
non-existent in that animal. It is unnecessary to dwell upon the 
fact that the lungs were obviously not much moveable owing to 
this firm connection with the walls of the cavity containing them. 
Inasmuch as adhesions of a similar kind are by no means in- 
frequent as a pathological phenomenon, it behoved me to decide 
very carefully whether, in the example of the Indian Tapir which 
exhibited the condition referred to, there was not some disease of 
the lungs or the pleura, or of both, which would account for this 
remarkable state of affairs. Although I have naturally accumu- 
lated during my long tenure of the Prosectorship of this Society 
some knowledge of morbid appearances and structures, I called in 
my then colleague, Dr. Seligmann, to my assistance, who confirmed 
my opinion. There can therefore be but little doubt that the con- 
dition described above in Vapirus indicus is the normal condition. 
It would appear, however, that this condition has been observed 
in the same animal and has been put down to the effects of disease. 
For Dr. Murie in his account of the anatomy of this Tapir * 
wrote:—‘‘ The examination of the thoracic cavity exhibited the 
residual effects of pleurisy, there being fluid exudation and 
adhesions between the parietes and the lungs.” It is not so very 
likely that so competent an observer as Dr. Murie would be 
mistaken as to the presence of disease; but it must be borne in 
mind that a normal attachment of the lungs to the parietes would 
not prevent the lungs from being invaded by disease ! 
Again Dr. Cantor says7 that his specimen of Vapirus indicus 
died from inflammation of the lungs, but he gives no detail. On 
the other hand, neither Poelman = nor Sir Everard Home § say 
anything bearing upon the present matter. 
The interest of this remarkable obliteration, partial at any rate, 
of the prediaphragmatic ccelom in Z'apirus indicus largely depends 
upon the fact that the same state of affairs exists in the Elephant. 
Quite recently Boas || and more recently still Giard 4] have shown, 
in accordance with the statements of others (Miall & Greenwood, 
&e., quoted by Giard), that the lungs are firmly adherent to the 
* “On the Malayan Tapir, &c.,” J. Anat. Phys. vi. 1872, p. 139. 
+ “Cat. of Mammals inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and Islands,” Journ. 
Asiat. Soc. Bengal, xv. 1846, p. 266. 
{ Mém. Ac. Roy. Belg. xxvii. 1853. § Phil. Trans. 1821, p. 272. 
|| “ Fehlen der Pleurahdhlen beim indischen Elefanten,’ Morph. Jahrb. Bd. xxxv 
1906, p. 494. 
@ “L’Eléphant de Afrique a-t-il une cavité pleurale,” C. R. Acad. Sci. t. exliv. 
1907, p. 306. 
Proc. Zoou. Soc.—1909, No, XI, il 
