Mammals 35 



failure. We now know that with all his absurdities he had some 

 sound ideas, in advance of his time. Posterity, neglecting the 

 rubbish, preserves whatever is of worth, and thus Rafinesque 

 comes to his own. 



It was by a sort of accident that Rafinesque became the 

 author of the generic name Odocoileus, now so important in 

 American zoology. He based it on an upper premolar tooth of a 

 deer, found in a cave at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. The name meant 

 hollowed tooth, and it was supposed that the animal was extinct. 

 Actually, it was the tooth of an ordinary Virginia deer; and as 

 no generic name had then been provided for the American deer, 

 this was available. The western whitetailed deer is Odocoileus 

 virginianus macrourus of Rafinesque, while the black-tailed or 

 mule deer is 0. hemionus of the same author; both names pub- 

 lished in 1817. Warren gives the following characters for their 

 separation: 0. V. macrourus; ears moderate, about half length of 

 head; tail brown above, white below; antlers with a large sub- 

 basal snag; beam forwardly directed, the anterior branch the 

 largest and longest; glands on the metatarsus short, about an 

 inch long. 0. hemionus; ears large, two-thirds to three-quarters 

 length of head; tail white with a black tip; antlers with short sub- 

 basal snag; beam upwardly and outwardly directed forking dicho- 

 tomously, with branches approximately equal; glands on the 

 metatarsus about five inches long. The black-tailed deer is the 

 common Colorado species, found almost everywhere in the moun- 

 tains. The white-tailed deer, once locally common, is now ex- 

 tremely rare. Although we are unfortunately not able to include 

 the moose among the animals of Colorado, it does exist in Wyoming. 

 A new subspecies (Alces americana shirasi) was described by E. 

 W. Nelson in 1914, from about four miles south of Yellowstone 

 Park. It is a much paler colored animal than the typical north- 

 ern moose.* Mr. Warren writes that he has investigated all 

 alleged records of moose in Colorado, without being able to verify 

 any of them. 



'Nelson says: "In consideration of his remarkable work in originating modern methods of 

 flash-light photography of birds and mammals and the interest he has awakened, through this 

 and his writings, in animal life and its preservation, I take pleasure in offering a well-deserved 

 tribute by naming this fine game animal in honor of George Shiras, 3d." Mr. Shiras published 

 an account of this moose, with illustrations, in National Geographic Magazine, July 1913. 



