242 APPENDIX 



D. 



W {star's Fossil Elk, 



(Vol. 2. fig 1 . * and f in plate opposite page 197.) 



The late distinguished professor Wist a r pub 

 lished an account of some fossil skulls, (exhumed 

 at Big-Bone Lick, Kentucky, by Gen. Clark, our 

 of the enterprising explorers of the western regions,) 

 which were presented to the American Philosophi- 

 cal Society, by Jefferson. Among other descrip- 

 tions, is the following of the head of one of the 

 largest species of the genus Cervus. 



The breadth of the skull, at its narrowest part, is 

 4.75 inches. The depth, from the margin of the 

 occipital surface to the most distant part of the. 

 great foramen of the occipital bone, is 5.25 inches. 

 From the superior surface, immediately posterior to 

 the base of the horns, to the body of the sphenoid 

 bone, immediately under it, 4.7 inches. The length 

 of the cranium, from the centre of the space between 

 the horns, to the projection of the occipital bone, is 

 6.37 inches. 



Dr. Wistar compared this skull with that of 

 the American Elk, Cervus Caradensis, and the 

 Rein-Deer C. Tarandus> and concluded, that it 

 more nearly resembled the Elk, at the occiput, 

 though differing from it greatly in the position and 

 proiection of the horns. According to the measure- 

 ments and comparisons of Dr. Wistar. this Elk 



