103 
ficient are presented to indicate the group to which it should be re¬ 
ferred. The fore-foot, although from its having four toes it is appa¬ 
rently an exception to the Perissodactyle type, yet shows at a glance 
that the medius is the digit on which the body most immediately 
rests, instead of its being supported equally upon that and the annu¬ 
laris, which is the constantly prevailing character in the even-toed 
division. In the Tapir the annularis shares with the index a second- 
rate part in the function of support; and the little finger seems quite 
pushed aside, so that its presence is no more a true exception than is 
the absence of the corresponding toe in the hind-foot of the Peccary, 
where the even number is destroyed by being reduced to three. As 
in the other Perissodactyla, the Tapir has the prepuce short and 
wide, not reaching, as in the Artiodactyla, to the middle of the abdo¬ 
men ; and the penis (which is described by Professor Owen) resem¬ 
bles that of the Horse in being short, thick, and truncated. Another 
interesting external resemblance to the Horse is the elevated crest 
upon the neck, remarked upon by naturalists for its greater develop¬ 
ment in this, the common species, as a point of distinction from that 
discovered by M. Poulin in the mountainous districts of their habitat. 
This appendage, which adds greatly, in our domestic animal, to his 
characteristic majesty of form, has precisely the same structure in 
the Tapir, presenting, when cut into, the same hard fibrous substance 
well interspersed with fat. 
With regard to the organs of digestion, I have scarcely anything 
to add to the observations already published. The small intestines 
in this specimen were about 12 yards long ; and the fine villi, which 
clothe their internal surface, were, in the duodenal portion, tipped 
with a dark pigment. The caecum was more than a foot long, and 
the fold of the colon 2 feet; the caecum contained, like the stomach, 
large quantities of undigested food, while in the small intestines was 
little else but fluid chyle. The salivary organs, as usual in the Un- 
gulata, are very largely developed ; the parotids being of great extent, 
joining each other beneath, in front of the neck, and reaching up on 
each side to surround the base of the auricle. The molar glands, 
situated between the buccinator muscle and the mucous lining of the 
mouth, form a conglomerate mass, opening between two elevated 
ridges by a series of pores. 
The generative organs, internally as well as externally, present a 
general conformity to the type usual in the Perissodactyla ; but as the 
individual was young, it is perhaps as well to defer the publication of 
any details until they can be confirmed by the dissection of a fully- 
developed specimen. 
A remarkable anatomical character, which I find the Tapir to 
possess in common with the Horse, is the singular membranous sac 
communicating with the Eustachian tube*. It is placed beneath the 
ear, between the stylohyal bone and the base of the sphenoid, and 
is of an irregular form, being accommodated to the parts adjacent; 
the tube itself runs as a groove along part of the upper surface of the 
sac, and opens into the posterior nares. 
* They are called “ guttural pouches ” by veterinary anatomists. 
