CARIACUS. 113 
The naturalists of the United-States Boundary Survey found the Prong-horn to be 
abundant in the north of Mexico, being especially plentiful in the northern part of 
Sonora, where Dr. Kennerly observed that it was less shy than in other localities. 
Mr. Clark states that in this region “the Antelope is said to have an abiding hatred 
for the rattle-snake, which it decoys first into a striking attitude, and then utterly 
annihilates by leaping into the air and coming down upon the snake with its four 
sharp-cutting hoofs placed together” *. According to the Berlandier manuscripts, this 
is the Teuthtlalmagame of Hernandez and the Berendo of modern Mexicans, and extends 
its range southwards at least throughout the State of Tamaulipas 2. 
For the most recent account of the habits and mode of living of this very interesting 
animal, the reader may be referred to Judge Caton’s excellent monograph ¢. 
Fam. IV. CERVIDZ. 
1. CARIACUS. 
Mazama (subgen.), Hamilton-Smith, Griffith’s An. Kingd. v. p. 314 (1827, nec Rafinesque*). 
Cariacus, Gray, P. Z. 8. 1850, p. 237; Brooke, P. Z.S. 1878, p. 918. 
Sir Victor Brooke, in his recent review of the Cervide +, has shown that the existing 
Deer may be naturally divided into two groups, according to the characters of the rudi- 
mentary lateral metacarpal bones, and that this division is in singular accordance with 
the geographical distribution of the family. The first section, Plesiometacarpi (or sub- 
family Cervine, as I would prefer to call it) is almost exclusively Old-World, and is 
characterized by having only the proximal ends of the metacarpals remaining. The 
Telemetacarpi (or Cariacine), on the other hand, retain only the distal extremities of 
these bones, and are mostly either New-World or circumpolar forms. 
Four species of the typical American genus Cariacus, representing the subgenera 
Cariacus proper and Coassus, are natives of our subregion. Of these the first, C. 
macrotis, is a Nearctic form which just crosses our northern boundary; the second, 
C. virginianus, extends its range from Canada to Panama, if not far into South 
America; the third, C. toltecus, appears to be peculiar to Southern Mexico; while 
the fourth, C. rufinus, is a strictly Neotropical type. The following characters may 
serve to distinguish these species :— 
* Mazama of Rafinesque was an imaginary genus, allied to the Giraffe, and possessing simple solid and 
permanent horns! He founded it mainly on the ““Temamazame” of Hernandez, Cariacus rufinus, with which 
he associated the animals now known as Antilocapra americana and Aplocerus montanus (Amer. Monthly Mag. 
ii. p. 44, 1817, fide Baird). It is evident that such a genus cannot be retained either as a whole or as restricted 
to any of its members, no one of which agrees with its definitions. Cf. Baird, Mamm. N. Am. p. 665; de Saus- 
sure, Rev. et Mag. Zool. 1860, p. 251, footnote. 
+ “On the Classification of the Cervide,” P. Z. 8. 1878, pp. 883-928, pl. lv. 
BIOL. CENT.-AMER., Mamm. Vol. 1, June 1880. Q 
