434 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



It appears, that until the age of four months it is black, 

 beautifully marked with spots and stripes of a fawn colour 

 above, and white below ; and at six months old it assumes 

 its permanent colours of black, with a simple large white 

 patch, covering the back and sides, but not meeting under 

 the belly as represented in the figure taken from the spe- 

 cimen in Paris. 



The living specimen described by Sir Stamford, was sent 

 when young from Bencoolen to Bengal, and became very 

 tractable. It was allowed to roam occasionally in the park 

 at Barrackpore, and the man who had charge of it stated 

 that it frequently entered the ponds, and appeared to walk 

 along the bottom under water, without making any attempt 

 to swim. The flesh is eaten by the natives of Sumatra. It 

 is known by different names in different parts of the 

 country: by the people of Liniun, it is called Saladang; by 

 those of the interior of Maima, Giudol ; in the interior of 

 Bencoolen, Babi Alu ; and at Malacca, Teunu. 



The first time this species appears to have been noticed 

 was in 1772, but it was then, and long afterwards, treated 

 as an Hippopotamus, till about 1816, when it first attracted 

 attention. As it reaches eight feet in length and six in 

 circumference, it is the more remarkable that it should so 

 long have escaped the notice of zoologists, and might in- 

 deed support an argument in favour of the position, that 

 the number of supposed extinct species, whose osseous re- 

 mains are to be found, are not in fact extinct, but exist 

 now, though unknown to scientific men. This is not the 

 place to discuss that question, and we merely allude to it 

 for the sake of observing, that, whoever will take the pains 

 to investigate the science of animal fossils, will soon find 

 that the recent discovery of a Tapir in America will by no 

 means invalidate the doctrine of extinct species. 



Respecting the genus of the Horse, which is sufficiently 



