24 Merriam A New Elk From California. 



where at present the. survivors are confined almost exclusively 

 to lands included in an extensive cattle ranch ( Button willow 

 Ranch) owned by Miller and Lux. Knowing that the other 

 mammals of the hot San Joaquin Valley differ materially from 

 their mountain relatives, and feeling confident that the elk 

 would prove no exception to the rule, 1 have tried for fifteen 

 years to obtain specimens, but until recently without success. 

 Two or three years ago Miller and Lux presented the herd to 

 the United States Government, through the Biological Survey 

 of the Department of Agriculture. A park for their reception 

 was constructed on Kaweah River in the Sequoia National Park , 

 and on November 12, 1904, a notable drive was made for the 

 purpose of corralling the animals. The drive was carefully 

 planned and many of the best riders of the San Joaquin Valley 

 took part in it. It was not a success, for the reason that the 

 elk refused to be driven and escaped to the adjacent foothills of 

 the Temploa Mountains. During the excitement of the chase 

 the vaqueros roped eight or ten of the elk. Most of these died. 

 Their skins and skulls were carefully preserved and are now in 

 the collection of the Biological Survey in the U. S. National 

 Museum. Comparison of these specimens with the three species 

 of elk heretofore known from the United States (Cervus cn<t- 

 densis, C. roosevelti, and C. merriami) shows that the Joaquin 

 animal is very different from any of them far more different 

 in fact than they are from one another. It is very much smaller, 

 shorter legged, much paler in color, and has more white on the 

 ears. Comparison of skulls shows that its affinities are with 

 Cervus canadensis of the Rocky Mountains rather than with 

 roosevelti or merriami. The accompanying illustration is from a 

 photograph, taken by me November 12, of an old bull, appar 

 ently the leader of the band. He was roped during the drive 

 and carried on a wagon to the corral. 



The species may be known from the following description : 



Cervus nannodes sp. nov. 



Type from Buttonwillow, Kern County, California, No. 135,042, male, 2- 

 year-old, U. S. National Museum, Biological Survey Collection. Collected 

 November 12, 1904, by C. Hart Merriam and E. W. Nelson. 



Characters. Size small ; legs short ; coloration pale ; fur of ears soft, 

 almost woolly ; white rump patch small and narrow ; front of legs and feet 



