THE TAPIR 'FAMILY. 



4i 



plate. In the lower jaw each cheek-tooth 

 is formed by the union of two half- moon 

 shaped parts with the convexity to the out- 

 side. These molars resemble those of the 



fossil Palseotheria. Dental formula: — : — '—^ 



2.0.7-8 



= 34-38 teeth. 



The largest species of the genus Hyrax, 

 the Cape Daman (H. capensis), which the 

 Dutch settlers call Klippdass, that is, rock- 

 badger, attains a length of 15 or 16 inches. 

 Like the Syrian 

 Hyrax {H. syria- 

 cus), which is 

 known in the He- 

 brew Scriptures 

 by the name of 

 Saphan (in the 

 authorised version 

 Cony), and the 

 Abyssinian hyrax, 

 the Ashkok of the 

 natives (H. habes- 

 sinicus), which is 

 shown in fig. 145, 

 this animal is found in large companies in- 

 habiting stony deserts, where it can easily 

 find retreats amongst fragments of rock, 

 and has abundance of savoury plants for 

 its food. These companies behave very 

 much as marmots do. They come out of 

 their holes and corners only after they 

 have cautiously examined all round to see 

 that there is no danger. They sit upright 

 on the watch, never go very far from 

 their holes, and give warning of danger by 

 means of a sharp whistling sound. They 

 bring forth only two young ones at a time, 

 but these soon become independent of their 

 mother, and would soon swarm all round if 

 it were not that many of them, in spite of all 

 their caution, become the prey of carnivores. 

 They are delightful little creatures, always 

 good-humoured, agile in their sports, but 

 rather lazy where food is abundant, and, 

 according to the reports of travellers, live 



Vol. 11. 



notwithstanding their timidity on good terms 

 with ichneumons and large lizards. The flesh 

 is similar to that of the rabbit, and here and 

 there is much liked and eaten. 



Although in most species there is a com- 

 plete adaptation to a life among the rocks, it 

 is not to be inferred that this is universally 

 true of the group. There are, in fact, in 

 Mozambique and in the interior of Africa 

 certain species out of which the genus Den- 

 drohyrax has been formed, a genus scarcely 



distinguishable in- 

 deed by any es- 

 sential characters 

 in the dentition 

 or in the struc- 

 ture of the limbs, 

 but one of which 

 the species pass 

 their life on trees, 

 pairs building nests 

 tor themselves in 

 j holes in the trunks, 

 : a and, in short, be- 

 having altogether 

 The structure of the 

 extremities already described facilitates in 

 these species the climbing even of straight 

 stems. It is a remarkable example of 

 adaptation to a tolerably diverse mode of 

 life, but one which is rendered intelligible 

 by the relations that may have subsisted 

 between the essentially arboreal Prosimii 

 and their supposed ungulate ancestors. 



THE TAPIR FAMILY 



(TAPIRIDA). 



The family of the tapirs has originated 

 from one of the oldest mammalian stocks, 

 one that was distributed in Eocene times 

 over the whole earth. 



The Tapirs (Tapirus) are clumsy, massive, 

 short-legged animals of about the height of 

 an ass, but with the general appearance of a 

 pig, from which, however, they are at once 



38 



Fig. 145. — The Abyssinian Hyrax {Hyrax liabessinicus). 



as climbing animals. 



