1885.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 195 



the pleurapophysial plate on the sixth vertebrae is smaller, that 

 on the fifth larger. 



The only other member of the Cervidas with which Gervalces 

 can be compared in size, is the great extinct Irish deer Megaceros. 

 But in the latter we find a very much longer neck, the vertebrse 

 of which are vastly heavier, and all the processes are larger and 

 stouter, showing the great muscular power necessary to wield 

 the immense antlers. In Gervalces the cervical vertebrse appear 

 puny in comparison. 



Trunk Vertebrae. In Megaceros these vertebrae are provided 

 with very long and heavy spines ; those of the anterior thoracic 

 being twelve or thirteen inches in length, on the posterior about 

 eight. In Cervalces the spines are shorter and especially lighter. 

 The rise of the back at the withers is even less marked than in 

 the moose. The vertebral centra are also shorter and lighter 

 than in Megaceros, giving a much shorter trunk. The lumbar, 

 sacral and caudal vertebrse do not differ in any important way 

 from those of the moose, except that the neural spines of the 

 sacrum are somewhat more closely co-ossified. 



The Bibs are rather short, only a very little longer than in the 

 moose, and therefore proportionately considerably shorter. The 

 thorax is consequently shallow, and together with the long limbs 

 gives the animal a stilted appearance. The greatest depth of 

 thorax from tip of neural spine to the sternum is in Megaceros 

 34 inches, in Cervalces 29, in the moose 28. 



The Sternum, curiousty enough, is somewhat different from 

 that of the moose ; the manubrium being smaller and of a some- 

 what different shape. The first two segments of the mesosternum 

 resemble the corresponding parts in Cervus, and differ from those 

 of Alces in being long and narrow, instead of short and broad. 



The Limbs. 



The limbs are remarkable for their great length and slender- 

 ness. Though considerably longer than those of the great Irish 

 deer, 1 they are not nearly so stout. The hind legs are especially 

 long, but the withers are higher than the rump, as is the case 



1 It is very unfortunate that the name "Irish Elk" is so commonly 

 applied to this animal, which seems rather to have been a gigantic fallow- 

 deer. 



