322 LAND MAMMALS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 



enter, both for bathing and as a place of refuge when pur- 

 sued. Under modern conditions, the only perissodactyls of 

 the western hemisphere are the tapirs of the Neotropical re- 

 gion, North America proper, which for ages was the principal 

 home of the order, not having a single representative now. 



In the Pleistocene, tapirs were apparently more abundant 

 than in any of the Tertiary epochs, but this was probably due 

 to the fact that the Pleistocene of the forested regions is far more 

 fully recorded than is any Tertiary stage. One species, which 

 was hardly distinguishable from the Recent Central American 

 form, was common in the forested region east of the Mississippi 

 and in California, and a second species {Tapirus ]haysii) was 

 larger and heavier than the other. Except in Texas, none have 

 been found in the Great Plains area, nor are they Ukely to be, 

 for that region, then as now, appears to have been devoid of 

 forests. No doubt, these Pleistocene species had substantially 

 the same habits as the existing ones, but they were adapted to 

 a colder climate and a different vegetation, for, except the 

 Pinchaque Tapir {T. roulini) of the high Andes, all the modern 

 species are tropical in distribution. 



Concerning the Pliocene and Miocene tapirs, but meagre 

 information has been obtained. Enough material has been 

 gathered by the collectors to demonstrate the continuous pres- 

 ence of the family in North America throughout those epochs, 

 but the broken and fragmentary specimens are insufficient to 

 show what the structural changes were. It should be remem- 

 bered, however, that it is only in the region of the Great Plains 

 and the Great Basin of Nevada that any considerable quantity 

 of Miocene and Pliocene mammals have been found, and in those 

 regions tapirs probably never were common. If the Peace Creek 

 formation of Florida is properly classified as latest Pliocene, 

 then at that time the American tapirs were essentially what 

 they are to-day, for the Florida species is hardly separable from 

 the modern T. terrestris. 



Not till we reach the lower Oligocene, or White River beds, 



