EXTINCT FAUNAS OF THE MOHAVE DESERT 261 



present environment in tlie southern portion of the Great Valley of 

 California. 



The Latest Extinct Fauna of the Mohave, 

 THE Manix Pleistocene 



The fragmentary remains obtained by Mr. Buwalda from the de- 

 posits of Manix Lake include only scattered bones and teeth with a few 

 shells of snails and clams. The collection includes the bones of two 

 horses of the genus Equus. One is a large species evidently closely 

 related to the existing horses. The other is a much smaller form, but 

 evidently of the same genus. There are two camels; one near the size 

 of the dromedary, the other much smaller. The larger camel was prob- 

 ably near or incidental with the large Camelops known by splendid spe- 

 cimens from Eancho La Brea. The other species is unlike any Pleisto- 

 cene camel described from the west. There are bones of a proboscidean, 

 probably an elephant. A large antelope, probably like the pronghorn 

 is known by a single bone. Two birds like existing species are found 

 in this fauna. The molluscs are fresh-water species closely related to 

 living forms. 



As fragmentary as is the material from the beds of Manix Lake, it 

 represents the first assemblage of mammalian species of Pleistocene age 

 from a definitely known horizon in the Mohave region. It is, in fact, 

 the most important collection made at any single locality in the Pleisto- 

 cene of the Great Basin. It gives for the first time a grouping 

 of the most important mammalian forms living together in this region 

 at any particular stage in the Pleistocene. 



Taken alone these fragmentary specimens might never tell more 

 than a very short story, but the wonderful Pleistocene collection ob- 

 tained at Eancho La Brea just across the range to the west will ulti- 

 mately furnish comparative material adequate to make possible a definite 

 determination of the animal represented by every bone found in the 

 Manix beds. 



The Manix fauna is entirely distinct from that of the Eicardo. The 

 horses are of the latest and most advanced genus, that is the modern 

 Equus, which includes most of the living representatives of the horse 

 group. The larger camels seem to represent the last genus kno-mi in 

 North America. The relationships of the smaller camel are as yet 

 uncertain. If the antelope is near the pronghorn, as seems probable, 

 it is also of the latest known type. 



It is perhaps unnecessary to state that the Manix fauna differs from 

 that of the present day in the inclusion of camels and a proboscidean. 

 Wlien it is better known, this fauna will probably be found to contain 

 few if any modern species. 



