ITS NEAREST EXISTING KKLATIONS 



represented by the three families of the Tapirs, the 

 Rhinoceroses, and the Horses. Great as may be the 

 differences between these animals as we see them now, 

 we can trace their history step by step, as shown by the 

 fragments preserved from former ages, farther and 

 farther back into time, their differences continually 

 becoming less marked, and ultimately blending together, 

 if not into one common ancestor, at all events into forms 

 so closely alike in all essentials that no reasonable doubt 

 can be held as to their common origin. 



As already indicated, the first named, the tapirs, 

 have retained much more of the original characters of 

 the primitive ungulates of the Eocene period than either 

 of the others, and have indeed remained practically un- 

 changed since the Miocene period; while almost all 

 other mammalian forms which existed then have either 

 become extinct or undergone extensive modification. 



The Tapirs (Family Tayiri&ce) 



The tapirs constitute the single genus Tapirus, of 

 which all the known species are much alike in external 

 as well as anatomical characters. They are rather heavy, 

 thick-set animals, with short and stout limbs. The fore- 

 feet have four distinct toes, the first (that corresponding 

 to the thumb of man) only being absent, those that are 

 present corresponding to the second, third, fourth, and 



