OCR Text |
Show 880 DR. J. E. GRAY ON THE TAPIRID^E. [NOV. 14, Var. 3. With a small additional premolar close in front of the base of the usual first premolar on the right side of tbe lower jaw. Hippopotamus terrestris, Linn. S. N. p. 174. Tapirus americanus, Schreb. Saugeth. t. 319 ; Cuvier, Oss. Foss. iii. p. 277, t. 66-68 ; Blainv. Osteog. Ongulig. t. 1,5; P. Z. S. 1850, p. 102; 1851, p. 121; 1859, p. 51 • 1860, pp. 181, 261. T. anta, Zimm. 2\ terrestris, Gray, List M a m m . B. M . p. 184 ; Gerrard, Catal. Bones, B. M . p. 275. T. suillus, A. Wagner, Schreb. Saugeth. iv. p. 777, t. 319 ; P. Z. S. 1860, p. 261. Tapirete, Marcg. Bras. p. 229, fig. Tapirou Vanta, Buff. H . N. xi. p. 444, t. 43. Junior. Cabani elephantipede, Geoff. Mus. Paris ; Desm. N . Diet. H.N. p. 503. The British Museum possesses six skulls of this species. Four skulls are of full- grown or nearly full-grown animals ; one is young, with only four grinders; and another is young, with only the milk-teeth. These skulls show that this species is found in Brazil (where it was obtained by Mr. Miers), and also in Berhice and Demerara. The specimen from the latter country was obtained by Sir Robert Schomburgk. The skull of the younger animal, which has only the four or five grinders developed (even when the other grinders are being developed), has the front edge of the hinder nasal aperture in a line with the hinder edge of the last well-developed grinder-that is to say, the fourth or fifth, as that tooth may happen to be the last well-developed one. A skull in this state is figured by Cuvier, Oss. Foss. ii. t. 2. f. 2 ; but the last or fifth grinder, canines, and cutting-teeth are represented more developed than they ought to be to agree with our specimens. This position of the aperture has been verified in a series of five skulls of animals with the teeth in five different states of development. The aperture is figured in its proper position in the adult skull. In the skull of the nearly adult animal, in which the last or seventh grinder is not completely formed, but of a moderate size and nearly ready to pass through the gums, the front edge of the internal nasal aperture is in a line with the back edge of the sixth or penultimate grinder, as in the skulls of the adult animals which have cut the last or seventh grinder. The internal nasal aperture probably slightly changes its place when the animal increases in age, or is sometimes liable to variation. In the skull of an adult (perhaps rather aged) animal, which has all the seven grinders well developed, in tbe British Museum, and which agrees with the adult skull of the common Brazilian Tapir, the front edge of the hinder nasal aperture is rather more forward than in the other adult skull; that is to say, the front edge is in a line with the middle of the sixth or penultimate middle grinder. The |