Merriam A New Elk From California. 25 



bright golden fulvous ; back and flanks varying from buffy gray, slightly 

 washed with fulvous, to grizzled buffy whitish. 



Color. Type specimen : Head and shoulders grizzled grayish brown, only 

 slightly washed with fulvous on neck and shoulders ; back grizzled whitish 

 buffy, becoming pale fulvous on sides ; rump patch and tail soiled whitish, 

 much smaller and narrower than in the other known species ; ears varying 

 from buffy ochraceous to ochraceous fulvous; the inner side, borders, and 

 outer base both anteriorlyand posteriorly, buffy white.the white,particularly 

 at posterior base, much more extensive than in the other species; anterior 

 surfaces of fore and hind legs bright golden fulvous, strikingly different 

 from the dark brown or chestnut brown of the others ; posterior aspect of 

 fore and hind legs buffy fulvous ; mane on throat well developed, long, 

 harsh, grizzled grayish brown ; dark thigh stripe (separating white of inner 

 side from grayish fulvous of outer side) only slightly marked. An old bull 

 is similar but has the neck all round abruptly much darker than the body. 

 The mane also is more extensive, covering the sides of the neck as well as 

 the throat. 



An adult female collected at the same date and place (No. 135,047) differs 

 from the type in being more fulvous above ; in having the back less whitish ; 

 the rump patch whiter and more sharply defined ; the throat mane less 

 strongly developed but still well marked. Three yearlings of both sexes 

 are in color intermediate between the male and female above described. 

 The top of the head is more like that of the female, being fulvous instead 

 of grayish brown. The sides of the back and flanks are dark buffy gray, 

 becoming pale fulvous posteriorly on sides of rump and thighs. 



Cranial characters. Skull in general similar to that of canadensis (not 

 broad anteriorly as in roosevelti and merriami), but smaller, lower, and 

 notably shorter; palatalbones decidedly longer ; upper surface of supraoccipital 

 deciddy shorter. The skull of the type, a two-year-old male, compared with 

 the skull of a male canadensis of the same age from Manitoba, shows the 

 following differences : Size smaller; fronto-parietal region more depressed ; 

 bullse decidedly smaller ; muzzle more constricted laterally behind canines ; 

 supraoccipital on top of skull shorter; encroaching much less on 

 parietals ; the parietals correspondingly longer; palatal length and length 

 of palatal bones decidedly shorter. The palatal surface of the maxillaries 

 and premaxillaries is of the same length in both species, the greater palatal 

 length of canadensis resulting from the greater length of the palatal bones 

 in that species. The molars and premolars are of essentially the same size 

 in both hence relatively larger in nannodes. 



Antlers. Similar in general to those of the Rocky Mountain Elk but 

 smaller and with posterior terminal prong less strongly developed. 



Measurements. Type specimen (2-year-old male) : Total length, 2,030 

 mm ; tail vertebrae, 140 ; hind foot, 620. 



Cranial measurements of type specimen. Basilar length, 358 (in canadensis 

 of same age, 388) ; zygomatic breadth, 155 (in canadensis, 168) ; occipito- 

 sphenoid length, 79 (in canadensis. 90) ; palatal length, 230 (in canadensis, 

 255), length of palatal bones, 36 (in canadensis, 60) ; palatal floor of maxil 

 laries, 112 in both ; palatal floor of premaxillaries, 82 in both. 



