THE AMERICAN TAPIR. 
199 
other animal. Their outward form has also in some 
particulars a near relation to that of the Hog ; while 
on the other hand one peculiarity of structure seems to 
connect them with the Elephant. In size they are, as 
Marcgrave well describes the American, about equal to 
a calf of six months old. They stand moderately high 
upon the legs, which are thick and strong, the anterior 
terminating in four toes and the posterior in three, all 
encased at the point in short rounded hoofs. Their 
bodies are rather large and heavy, and covered with 
close, thin, smooth hair ; their tails scarcely visible ; 
their ears short, rounded, and open ; their eyes ex- 
tremely small and dull ; and the line of their profile 
long and slightly arched. But their most remarkable 
feature consists in the prolongation of the nose and 
upper lip into a moveable proboscis, capable of being 
protruded for several inches beyond the opening of the 
mouth, and of being moved at will in various directions. 
In the extremity of this proboscis the nostrils form two 
broad transverse fissures. These tubular nostrils are 
not, however, sufficiently elongated to be used like those 
of the Elephant for the purpose of inhaling fluids to 
be afterwards poured down the throat of the animal ; 
neither is the trunk itself furnished with the finger-like 
appendage which is so highly serviceable to the more 
bulky quadruped. The comparative brevity of this 
organ in the Tapir also incapacitates it for the general 
purposes of prehension ; but it seems to be of consider- 
able use, when the animal is feeding, in guiding the 
food into its mouth, grasping it with some little force, 
and propelling it onwards towards its destination. 
The American Tapir is said to reach six feet in length 
from the extremity of its proboscis to the origin of its 
diminutive tail ; but the largest of our specimens scarcely 
exceeds five. Its colour is throughout of a deep brown 
\ 
