238 
THE TAPIRS. 
The Tapirs are the last of the existing animals 
which we have to notice, belonging, as w r e before 
stated, to the Anoplotheres of Swainson, who has 
used this extinct and comparatively unknown 
form as the type of one of his families. They 
are very remarkable, exhibiting a rounded com- 
pact form, standing a considerable height from 
the ground, and having the nose and nostrils 
more prolonged than in any of the Pachydermes, 
except the Elephant, employing this part of their 
structure as an organ of touch and smell, and 
partially of prehension. Three species are known, 
— two inhabiting America, and one part of the 
Asiatic Islands ; while it is said that D’Orbigny 
has discovered a new animal belonging to this 
group, in South America, but it has not yet been 
noticed in the numbers of his important voyages 
at this time published. They are harmless 
and inoffensive creatures, never attacking unless 
attacked ; sluggish in the extreme, according to 
