The nearest approach among living animals to the form of these extinct aquatic quadrupeds, is found in the Tapirs that inhabit the warm regions of South America, Malacca, and Sumatra, and in the Daman of Africa.
It is not easy to find a more eloquent and striking acknowledgment of the regularity and constancy of the systematic contrivances that pervade the animal remains of the fossil world, than is contained in Cuvier's Introduction to his account of the bones discovered in the gypsum quarries of the neighbourhood of Paris. It affords, to persons unacquainted with the modern method of conducting physical researches, an example of the kind of evidence on which we found our conclusions, as to the form, character, and habits of extinct creatures, that are known only through the medium of their
The posterior molar teeth in the genus Anoplotherium resemble those of the rhinoceros; their feet are terminated by two large toes, like the ruminating animals, whilst the composition of their tarsus is like that of the camel. The place of this genus stands, in one respect, between the rhinoceros and the horse; and in another, between the hippopotamus, the hog, and the camel.
Lophiodon.
The Lophiodon is another lost genus, allied most nearly to the tapir and rhinoceros, and, in some respects, to the hippopotamus, and connected closely with the Palæotherium and Anoplotherium. Fifteen species of Lophiodon have been ascertained.
Anthracotherium.
The genus Anthracotherium, was so called from its having been first discovered in the Tertiary coal, or Lignite of Cadibona in Liguria: it presents seven species, some of them approximating to the size and character of the hog; others approaching nearly to that of a hippopotamus.
Cheropotamus
The Cheropotamus was an animal most nearly allied to the hogs; in some respects approaching the Babiroussa, and forming a link between the Anoplotherium and the Peccary.
Adapis.
The last of the extinct Pachydermata found in the gypsum quarries of Montmartre, is the Adapis. The form of this creature most nearly resembled that of a hedgehog, but it was three times the size of that animal: it seems to have formed a link connecting the Pachydermata with the Insectivorus Carnivora.
