MUSEUM OF COMPARATIVE ZOOLOGY. 195 



size and numbers, is of a distinct russet color, and has less white under the 

 throat and belly than either of the former. In one specimen the white is 

 nearly wanting beneath the lower jaw, and there is very little under the 

 neck. They are not so wild as the first class mentioned, but are more 

 timid than the second, and, in their disposition to fatten, seem also to be 

 intermediate between the other two." 



In regard to the Elk he also observes : " There seem to be distinct 

 classes of the elk, which are as manifestly hereditary as those of the deer, 

 especially so as to form and size. Of these I recognize in my parks two 



classes, varying in form and size, but not materially in color One 



variety is larger, and has longer legs, and is much more graceful in form 

 and carriage than the other. The largest variety seems to be the most 

 hardy, and fattens the most readily ; it is also less vicious." 



The Elk or Wapati (Cervus canadensis Erxl.), judging from what is 

 known of its former distribution, undoubtedly once inhabited Massachu- 

 setts. According to Professor Baird and others, it is still found in the 

 Alleghanies in Pennsylvania.* 



The Moose (Alee malchis Ogilby ; Cervus alces Linn.) also formerly 

 undoubtedly existed in Massachusetts, though it has now been long ex- 

 tinct here. It still occurs in Maine, as far south as the Umbagog 

 Lakes, whence specimens have been received at the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology. 



As to whether the individuals found in America are identical with those 

 of the Old World, there is at present some discrepancy of opinion, though 

 formerly regarded as the same. The distinctions between them are very 

 slight, and to what extent constant is hardly known. While the Moose of 

 Asia and Europe are considered identical, Sir John Richardson has pointed 

 out some slight differences in the skeleton of those of the New and the 

 Old World, which incline him to the opinion that they may be distinct 

 species, and as such he bestowed on the American the specific name of 

 miiswa. Whether these distinctions are more than individual, or such as 

 would disappear in a large series of specimens, it is perhaps impossible to 

 say. Their distribution, however, is remarkably alike, reaching the Arctic 

 coast on both continents, and extending southwards to about the same 

 isotherm ; on the whole I consider their identity as extremely probable, if 

 not absolutely certain. 



* Audubon states that fifty years ago a few still lived in Kentucky, near the Ohio 

 Uiver, and that they were not very uncommon at that time in Southern Illinois, — 

 localities much more southern than Massachusetts. — Quad. N. Am., Vol. II, p. 88. 



