SUCCESSIVE MAMMALIAN FAUNAS 241 



but two toes. The foreodonts were present in great num- 

 bers, both small and large forms ; except for bodily stature 

 and modifications of the head, they all looked very much alike ; 

 ^Merycochoerus, with its incipient proboscis, here made its 

 first appearance. The last representatives of a family (fHyper- 

 tragulidse) of small and graceful artiodactyls are found in this 

 formation. One of these {'\Syndyoceras, see Fig. 215, p. 403), 

 an animal considerably larger than the existing Musk-Deer, was 

 in its way even more bizarre-looking than the fchalicotheres ; 

 with an antelope-like head, it had four horns, one pair over 

 the eyes, curving inward, and a shorter pair, with outward 

 curvature, on the muzzle. Another genus ('\Hypertragulus) 

 was very much smaller and very slender. 



The camels were beginning to diversify and give rise to 

 several phyla. One of the genera {\Protomeryx) , which did 

 not much exceed a sheep in size, probably represented the main 

 stock, which led to the camels and llamas of to-day. A second 

 {'\Stenomylus) was a still smaller animal, with remarkably long 

 and slender legs, and might be called a "gazelle-camel," 

 while a third {jOxydactylus, see Fig. 209, p. 392) , which was larger 

 and apparently the beginning of the fgiraffe-camels, was note- 

 worthy for its long neck. All of these lower Miocene camels 

 had deer-like hoofs, the characteristic pad or cushion which gives 

 such an exceptional appearance to the feet of modern llamas 

 and camels not being fully developed till a later period. A very 

 important new element in the North American fauna was the 

 appearance of the first deer (fBlastomeryx), which came in the 

 latter part of the Arikaree stage and were the forerunners of 

 a renewed immigration from the Old World, which had been 

 broken off during the upper Ohgocene. This, however, is a 

 disputed point ; Professor Osborn and Dr. Matthew believe 

 that these animals were truly indigenous and derived from a 

 long line of American ancestry. The same genus continued 

 through the middle Miocene, as we have already seen, and 

 therefore no further description of it is called for. 



