n 
PACHYDERMATA. 
133 
Eleven or twelve species are already known. At Paris alone, we have found one the size of a Horse, another 
that of a Tapir, and a third of a small Sheep : the bones of a species nearly equalling the Rhinoceros in size 
have been met with in the neighbourhood of Orleans. These animals appear to have frequented the borders 
of lakes and marshes, for the deposits wliich enclose their remains contain also those of freshwater shells. (See 
my Ossemens fossiles, tom. iii.) 
The Lophiodons — 
Form another extinct genus, vs^hich appears to have been closely allied to the preceding one ; but the 
inferior incisors of which exhibit transverse ridges. Ten or twelve species have been exhumed from 
the same ancient freshwater deposits that have yielded the Palseotheriums. 
To these last genera succeeds that of 
The Tapirs {Tapir, Lin.), — 
Wherein the twenty-seven molars, before they are w^orn, present transverse and rectilinear ridges ; 
there are six incisors and two canines in each jaw, separated from the molars by a wide interval. The 
nose assumes the form of a short fleshy trunk ; and the fore-feet have each four toes, the hinder 
but three. 
For a long while only one species was known, that of America (T. americanus, Lin.), which is the size of a small 
Ass, with a brown and almost naked skin, a short tail, and fleshy neck, that forms a crest at the nape. It is 
common in humid places and along the rivers of the warm parts of America, where its flesh is eaten. The young 
are spotted with white like the fawns of a Stag. Within a few years, a second species has been discovered in the 
Eastern Continent (T. of larger size than the other, and brown-black, with the back greyish white. It 
inhabits the forests of the Malay peninsula, the island of Sumatra, &c. Still more recently, Dr. Roulin has dis- 
covered in the Cordilleras a third species, of a black colour, and covered with thick hair ; the bones of its nose 
are more elongated, a particular in which it somewhat approximates the Palseotheriums. 
There have also been found in Europe some fossil bones of Tapirs, and, among the rest, those of a gigantic 
species approaching the Elephant in size (T. giganteus, Cuv., Oss. foss.) “ The lower jaw of this huge animal 
has been obtained by M. Schleyermacher, and proves to possess enormous canines, which must have projected 
from the mouth, [and are directed downwards] : it should therefore form a separate genus. Its size may have 
been greater than that of the Elephant by one half. [A more perfect head of this extraordinary species, the largest 
of the Pachydermata hitherto discovered, has been lately disentombed in Germany, and described by Prof. Kaup. 
With two other species, successively smaller, it now composes the genus Deinotherium, the members of which are 
suspected by Blainville and other anatomists to have been aquatic animals, destitute of posterior extremities, like 
the Dugongs and Manati.] 
The third family of Pachydermata, or of hoofed animals that do not ruminate, consists 
of the 
SoLIDUNGULA, 
Or quadrupeds with only one apparent toe and a single hoof to each foot, although beneath 
the skin, on each side of their metacarpus and metatarsus, there are appendices {stylets) 
which represent two lateral toes. But one genus of them is known, that of 
The Horses {Equus, Lin.). 
There are six incisors to each jaw, which, during youth, have their crowns furrowed with a groove, 
and six molars on each side above and below, with square crowns, marked by laminae of enamel which 
penetrate them, with four crescents, besides which there is a small disk on the inner border of those 
above. The males have in addition two small canines in their upper jaw, and sometimes in both, 
which are always wanting in the females. Between these canines and the first molar, there is a wide 
space which corresponds with the angle of the lips, where the bit is placed, by which alone Man has 
been enabled to subdue these powerful quadrupeds. Their stomach is simple and middle-sized ; but 
their intestines are very long, and coecum enormous. The teats are situate between the thighs. 
The Horse {E. caballus, Lin.). — This noble associate of Man in the chase, in war, and in the labours of agricul- 
ture, arts and commerce, is the most important and carefully tended of domestic animals. It does not appear to 
exist in the wild state, excepting in those countries where the offspring of tame individuals have been suffered to 
run wild, as in Tartary and America, where they live in troops, each conducted and defended by an old male. 
The young males, expelled as soon as they have attained the age of puberty, follow the troop at a distance, until 
they have attracted some of the younger mares. 
In a state of servitude, the colt continues sucking for six or seven months, and the sexes are separated at two 
years ; at three they are first handled and accustomed to some management, and at four saddled and mounted, 
at which age they can propagate without injuring themselves. The period of gestation is eleven months. 
