354 ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 



Possibly tapirs did not live in the country occupied by the 

 Maya peoples. At the present time they are found only to 

 the south of Yucatan. In Central America Baird's and 

 Dow's tapirs are native, the latter, however, more on the 

 Pacific coast. We have included a drawing of an earthen- 

 ware vessel (PI. 28, fig. 1) that represents a tapir, about 

 whose neck is a string of Oliva shells. The short prehensile 

 trunk of the tapir is well made and the hoofs are likewise 

 shown. A greatly elongated nose is found in many of the 

 drawings of the deities, but it does not seem clear that these 

 represent trunks of tapirs, or, as suggested by Stempell, 

 mastodons! Two such heads are. shown in PL 39, figs. 7, 9. 

 These offer a considerable superficial resemblance to that of 

 a tapir, but as no other drawings that might be considered 

 to represent this animal are found, it seems very questionable 

 if the long noses are other than parts of grotesque masks. 

 The superficial resemblance of the curious nose pieces of the 

 masks on the panel of the Maya fa9ades to elephants* trunks 

 does not seem to us especially significant, as otherwise the 

 carvings are quite unlike elephants. They have no great 

 tusks as an elephant should, but, instead, short recurved 

 teeth similar to those representing peccary tusks, as already 

 pointed out. 



Rabbit (Sylvilagus or Lepus). Rabbits and hares from 

 their familiarity, their long ears, and their peculiar method 

 of locomotion, seem always to attract the notice of primitive 

 peoples. Several species occur in Mexico, including the Marsh 

 rabbit (Sylvilagus truei; S. insonus), various races of the 

 Cottontail rabbit {S. floridanus connectens; S. /. chiapensis, 

 S. f. yucatanicus; S. aztecus; S. orizahae, etc.) and several 

 Jack rabbits (Lepus alleni pallitans; L. callotis flavigularis , 

 L. asellus). It is, of course, quite impossible to determine 

 to which of these species belong the few representations 

 found. Several drawings, shown in PI. 30, figs. 3, 4, 7, 8, are 

 at once identifiable as rabbits from their long ears, round 

 heads, and the presence of the prominent gnawing teeth.* 

 *Forstemanii (1906, p. 229) suggests thatfig. 8 is a walrus! 



