274 
ZOOLOGY. 
to tlie tapir^ especially CorypTiodon, Anoplotlierhtm, Palm- 
therium, etc., were generalized or ancestral forms, from 
which the modern, more specialized types have probably 
been evolved, and a study of these fossil Ungulates shows 
that there was then (i.e., in Eocene times) an essential 
unity of organization in all Ungulates, including the 
Ruminants; the breaking up of the Ungulate stem into 
special groups, along favored lines or paths of development, 
having resulted in a gradual improvement and elaboration 
of particular parts, which rendered them more fitted for 
their present life, and more intelligent in meeting and 
overcoming the emergencies their more complex surround- 
ing subjected them to. Thus in the Eocene Ungulates, 
such as Coryphodon, the cerebrum was small, without convo- 
lutions, indicating a slight degree of intelligence compared 
with the modern Ungulates, while the gradual diflferentia- 
tion of the horse, with its single toe and hoof, from its tapir- 
like ancestors, is a marked example of the intelligent, 
beneficent selection of favored, useful types which has gone 
on from the earliest geological times. 
All this specialization of type involved the destruction of 
great numbers of forms unfitted to withstand changes in 
their surroundings, or not sufficiently intelligent or wary 
to avoid the attacks of carnivorous forms, and thus the 
present number of Ungulates is much exceeded by the 
fossil forms. 
Perissodadyles. The odd-toed Ungulates, on the whole, 
stand lower than the even-toed forms. They all have at 
least twenty-two dorsal and lumbar vertebrae, and a simple 
stomach, with a large, sacculated coecum. The tapirs are 
the more elementary, generalized forms. Fossil tapirs occur 
in the older Tertiary beds of the West. The snout is almost 
proboscis-like, and the legs are moderately long, with four 
toes in front, three toes behind, 'i'he tapirs inhabit the 
tropics of the New World and Sumatra. The American 
tapir ranges from east of the Andes from the Isthmus of 
Darien to the Straits of Magellan. It liyes in deep forests 
