Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 26.djvu/596

 posterior lobe (b), which extends forward to abut upon the back part of the anterior lobe. These differences repeat characteristics seen in the anterior lower premolar, p 2, of Tapirus malayanus ; but the transverse development of the anterior lobe in the present specimen shows it to be the succeeding premolar, p 3 ; and there is an abraded spot on the enamel of the fore part of the crown, proving it to have been preceded by another tooth, viz. that which answers to p 2 in the type series, but which is the foremost of the lower grinders in all Tapirs.

The first lower molar, m l, right side, of Tapirus sinensis (Pl. XXIX. fig. 5) exceeds its homologue in T. malayanus by one line in both transverse and fore-and-aft diameters of the crown ; the enamel is thicker, but the characters of the accessory ridges are less marked than in p 3. If the figure of the Chinese lower molar be compared with that of the lower molar of Tapirus prisms from the Red Crag of Sutton (Quarterly Journal of the Geol. Soc. vol. xiii. p. 233, figs. 8 a, 8 b), the difference of dimensions will be appreciated. The second lower molar, m 2, left side, repeats the differential characters of the foregoing as compared with its homologue in Tapirus malayanus. The posterior fang of this tooth is preserved to a length of one inch seven lines ; its anterior surface shows the deep longitudinal, almost angular, channel which traverses that part, the hind surface of the fang being almost flat. There are fragments of another right lower molar of the same species of Tapirus, which, on the grounds above stated, I may be justified in defining as Tapirus sinensis. The differences observable in the molars of the American species of Tapir being greater and more numerous than those, noticed in the Sumatran species as compared with the Chinese specimens, I have not spent time in their specification.

Remains of Tapirus appear not to have been met with in the Indian tertiaries. In Europe they have been found in the miocene of the Bourbonnais, and the pliocene of Auvergne, in the Eppelsheim miocene, and in the Red Crag at Woodbridge and Sutton. The Crag Tapir, like the Crag Hyaena, was much smaller than the Chinese species.

Mr. Swinhoe has been so good as to send me a copy of a figure of a quadruped called the " White- encircled Moh," from the old Chinese dictionary of Urh-ya, which dates from the commencement of the Christian era. This figure combines the head of an elephant, with its large pendent ears and long proboscis, with the trunk of a Tapir, the mane and bushy tail of a horse, and pentadactyle hind feet. It is worthy of a passing notice, however, because the trunk shows the diversity and arrangement of contrasted colours which are peculiar to the Malayan and Sumatran Tapirs. It may also be remarked that the Tapir has a mid tract of erect stiff hairs along the upper surface of the neck, exemplifying a certain correspondence with the one- hoofed perissodactyles, and it has a rudimental proboscis. Opinions, of course, will vary as to the source of the figure of the " white- encircled" proboscidian and maned quadruped in the old Chinese