8516 



Quadrupeds. 



the look out, and have little doubt of soon being able to forward a 

 move accurate description from actual examination. 



" It should be remarked," continues Raffles, " that the native name, 

 Tenu, has until lately been understood to belong to the tapir. It is 

 so applied at Malacca, and by some of the people of Bencoolen. In 

 the interior, however, where the animals are best known, the white- 

 banded rhinoceros is called ' Tenu,' and the tapir ' Gindol,' and by 

 some c Babi Alu.' It is not impossible that, as both animals have 

 white bands, the names may have been confounded by people little in 

 the habit of seeing either, and deriving their information solely from 

 report. Tn a country like Sumatra, where the inhabitants, in a great 

 measure shut out from general communication, are divided into an 

 infinity of tribes, speaking different dialects, a perfect consistency or 

 uniformity of nomenclature cannot be expected, and it is not always 

 easy to reconcile the synonymy." 



It naturally occurs to the mind that if the tenu really exists it 

 would long ere this have been discovered, in all probability, in the neigh- 

 bouring Malayan peninsula ; but how little is even now known of the 

 great animals inhabiting that peninsula ! The late Dr. Cantor, when 

 he wrote his ' Catalogue of the Vertebrated Animals of the Malayan 

 Peninsula,' was unaware of the existence there of Bos sondaicus in 

 addition to B. gaums, only includes a two-horned rhinoceros on the 

 testimony of the Malays ; and whether Elephas sumatranus occurs on 

 the mainland of Asia, like the tapir and the two insular species of 

 rhinoceros, the Bos sondaicus and others, is still undetermined. It is 

 possible enough, though doubtless rather improbable, that such an 

 animal as the tenu may have escaped observation there even to this 

 time. But it might not extend its range into the peninsula (as in the 

 instance of the large Siamang gibbon, which is peculiar to Sumatra) ; 

 and not very much has been accomplished in the investigation of the 

 Zoology of the great island of Sumatra since the time of Raffles. At 

 all events, I think the present opportunity a meet one to recall the 

 subject to notice. 



Baron Cuvier long ago remarked, I think in his ' Lecons dans 

 l'Anatomie Comparee,' that even then it was not probable that any 

 more existing large quadrupeds remained to be discovered ; and it is 

 worthy of notice that no remarkable genus of large quadruped 

 has been since brought to light, though additional species have been 

 discriminated of several of the old genera. The small Hippopotamus 

 liberiensis of the late Dr. Morton is scarcely an exception, although 

 since raised to generic rank by Dr. Leidy, by the name of Chceropsis. 



