1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 181 



CERVALCES AMERICANUS, A FOSSIL MOOSE, OR ELK, FROM THE 

 QUATERNARY OF NEW JERSEY. 



BY W. B. SCOTT. 



Several species of Elk or Moose have been found in the Qua- 

 ternary deposits of the United States, and have been described 

 by various observers. For the most part, however, the remains 

 described have been so imperfect as to be of little value from a 

 morphological point of view. The earliest account we have of 

 such fossils is to be found in the Proceedings of the American 

 Philosophical Society for 1818, p. 375. This is "an account of 

 two heads found in the morass called the Big-Bone Lick, and 

 presented to the Society by Mr. Jefferson," and was written by 

 Dr. Caspar Wistar. One of these heads is assigned by Dr. Wistar 

 to Gervus, and is thus described : " If it belonged to the genus 

 Cervus, it was one of the largest species of that genus. 



" The comparison of figures 4 and 5 with figures 6 and 7 (skull 

 of wapiti), shows that the lately discovered skull resembles that 

 of the Round-Horned Elk at the occiput, although it differs from 

 it greatly in the position and projection of the horns. There 

 is also in the Round-Horned Elk a considerable prominence of 

 the frontal bone between the bases of the horns, which does not 

 appear to have been the case in the newly-discovered head. [In 

 part, at least, this is due to abrasion of the specimen. — S.] The 

 bones of this last-mentioned head have a concavity or depression 

 on the under surface near the root, which is not the case in the 

 Round-Horned Elk. 



" The cranium of the Moose, or Cervus alces, is very different. 

 The occipital portion is concave exteriorly, and the superior 

 margin has an angular indentation in it. There is a remarkable 

 prominence between the horns, which extends considerably towards 

 the nose. The horns of it project laterally like those of the newly- 

 discovered head, and they have a concavity on the under surface 

 near the root." . . . "I believe that each of the last-mentioned 

 heads (i. e., wapiti and moose), is at least of the ordinary size, as 

 their horns are large, and it appears, from a comparison of the 

 respective measurements, that the head lately discovered is larger 

 than either of them." 



