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THE AMERICAN TAPIR. 
Tapirus Americanus — Linn. 
PLATE XXVIII. 
Mborebi, Azara Tapirus Americanus, Linn, also 
Hippopotamus tcrrestris — Tapir Americain, Lacepede 
— Tapir (V Amerique, Fred. Cuvier, Hist. Naturelle 
des Mammif. 
This animal is the largest quadruped in South 
America, and is extensively distributed over that 
continent, extending over almost every part of it 
east of the Andes, but probably most abundant 
within the tropics. It reaches from five to six 
feet in length, is powerfully formed, and is 
covered with a scanty close lying hair, forming 
a bristly mane upon the neck. The colour is 
a deep brown. “ The sides of the lower lip, a 
band occupying the middle of the chin beneath, 
the upper edges of the ears, and a naked line at 
the junction of the hoofs, are all purely white.”* 
The young are of a lighter colour, and spotted or 
striped for the first year at least. That de- 
scribed by Mr Yarrel from the Zoological Society’s 
Menagerie, was “ of a rusty reddish brown, with 
* Bennet. 
VOL. XXIII. 
Q 
