230 



LAND MAMMALS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 



larger members of the group. The upper tusks were compar- 

 atively short and nearly straight and retained a band of enamel, 

 while the lower tusks were still shorter, chisel-shaped and so 

 worn as to prove that they were regularly used, no doubt in 

 cropping leaves ; the shortness of these lower tusks was com- 

 pensated for by the great elongation of the lower jaw. The 



_ ^iV-»_-*^WC?i5iS^<g^ 



Fig. 125. — '\Teleoceras fossiger, a short-legged rhinoceros, with small nasal horn; 

 lower Pliocene and upper Miocene of Nebraska. Restored from a skeleton in 

 the American Museum of Natural History. 



head was proportionately broad and low and, for Proboscidea, 

 these were small animals, not more than five or six feet high 

 at the shoulder. The body, limbs and feet had already at- 

 tained substantially their modern grade of structure, advance 

 among the Proboscidea being chiefly restricted to the teeth 

 and skull. 



Four families of Perissodactyla were represented in the 

 upper Miocene. The rhinoceroses, which were very abun- 

 dant, were present in considerable variety ; some were hornless, 

 others had a single small horn on the end of the nose. Among 

 these rhinoceroses there was much difference in bodily pro- 



