FAUNA AMERICANA. 245 



than those of the virginianus ; eye-lashes black, 

 the lachrymal aperture larger than in the latter 

 species, the hair also coarser, and undulated and 

 compressed like that of the Elk. 



The colour is light reddish-brown above ; sides 

 of the head and hair on the fore portion of the 

 nose above, dull cinereus ; the back is intermixed 

 with blackish tipped hairs, which form a distinct 

 line on the neck, near the head ; the tail is of a 

 pale reddish cinereus colour, and the hair at tip 

 is black ; the tip of the trunk of the tail is some- 

 what compressed, and is almost destitute of hair 

 beneath ; the hoofs are shorter and wider than 

 those of the virginianus, and more like those of 

 the Elk. 



Inhabit the most remote north-western territo- 

 ries of the United States. 



Fossil Deer. 



1. Cervus americanus, (Nob.) 



Fossil Elk, of the United States. 



In the Transactions of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, (vol. i. New Series, p. 375. pi. 

 10. fig. 4,) there is for the first time, a descrip- 

 tion of the skull of a fossil animal, by the late 

 Dr. Caspar Wistar, presented by Mr. T. Jeffer- 

 son to the Society. There can be little doubt, 

 that this skull is the remains of an extinct spe- 

 cies of the genus Cervus ; and is found to possess 

 many characters in common with the Elk, {Cer- 



