MAMMALIA. 97 
Canide, the Mustelide to the Lower Oligocene, and the Felide *, even Felis itself, to 
the Middle Miocene of Europe and North America. No extinct forms so early in 
time have yet been discovered in South America. Hence it is needless to look 
beyond North America for the immediate origin of the Central American and South 
American forms. But no data, paleontological or otherwise, seem to have been 
discovered as yet to explain the almost complete absence of Canide from the southern 
countries of Central America and the discontinuity in the distribution of the Bears 
above alluded to. Nor in the case of such genera as Galera, Grison, Nasua, and others 
is it clear whether their presence in Central America is due to northward migration 
from South America, or whether it is attributable to their settlement in the former 
area on their way to the southern continent. 
Order ARTIODACTYLA. 
The Bunodont or non-ruminant Artiodactyls are represented in America by the 
family Tayassuide (formerly Dicotylide), commonly known as Peccaries. ‘The 
described species may be referred to two categories, regarded sometimes as genera, 
exemplified by the Collared Peccary (Tayassu tajacu = torquatus) and the White- 
lipped Peccary (Z. pecari = labiatus). Species of the former category range from 
Texas (Guadalupe) to the Argentine, and have been recorded from Mexico (Sonora, 
Colima, Puebla), Guatemala, and Panama ; those of the second category spread from 
Campeche to Paraguay. 
Three families of ruminant Artiodactyls inhabit Central America, namely the 
Bovide, Antilocapride, and Cervidee. The first two, represented by the Bison (Bison), 
the Rocky Mountain Sheep (Ovis), and the Prongbuck (Antilocapra), are essentially 
North American. ‘The Bison inhabited Mexico in historic times. The Sheep and the 
Prongbuck penetrate Mexico as far as Chihuahua. The Cervide or Deer belong to 
two genera—Odocoileus, which extends from the United States, through Mexico to 
Panama, and thence into South America, and Mazama, ranging from Mexico (Vera 
Cruz) and Yucatan to Brazil and the Northern Argentine. 
The paleontological history of the Peccaries is fairly well known, many genera of 
the family having been discovered in the North American Tertiaries, dating from the 
Lower Oligocene. But our knowledge of the descent of the ruminant Artiodactyla is 
singularly meagre in the matter of details. ‘The Central American Cervide (Odocotleus, 
Mazama) belong to a group of the family (Telemetacarpalia) which, with a few 
exceptions, is confined to America. Possibly they are descended from a form 
(Blastomeryx) which existed in North America in the Lower Miocene. Odocorleus 
itself goes back to the North American Pliocene, but it seems difficult to avoid the 
* Excluding the extinct Oligocene Macherodonts, which have been recently claimed as theirancestors. . 
BIOL. CENTR.-AMER., Introd. Vol., June 1915. ©) 
