MAMMALS OF MINNESOTA. 257 
Nevertheless herds of wild swine have doubtless roamed over 
parts of Minnesota as in the states farther west. Since the 
Eocene period America has had a group of swine like animals 
in general appearance like those of Europe though quite differ- 
ent in details. The peccary of South America is at the 
hither end of this line of descent, while at the other stands the 
genus Eohyus of the Eocene, followed by Helohyus of the middle 
Eocene, Percherus of the lower Miocene, Tinohyus of the upper 
Miocene, Platygonus, etc., of the Quarternary. It may perhaps 
be interesting to notice that, as usual, America has ‘‘gotten 
the start of” the old world and our hogs exhibit a greater 
degree of specialization than those of Europe and Africa, and 
the four-toed form has quite gone out of style. 
We have already noticed that the family Tragulide as re- 
presented by the Hyomoschus seems to have persisted 
with little change from the upper Eocene to the present 
time. Deer and antelope were differentiated in the Miocene. 
’ During the Pliocene and Quarternary gigantic deer ranged over 
Europe and America, whose direct descendants are seen in the 
elk or more properly Canadian stag and the stag of Europe. 
The gigantic Irish elk lived until comparatively recent times. 
In America the Casoryx, characterized by a non-fusion of the 
metatarsals, existed in the Pliocene. Antelopes ranged over 
Europe in immense herds in late geologic periods. During the 
Ice period both America and Europe were over-run by reindeer, 
moose deer (properly elk) and musk oxen. 
The ancestors of the domestic cattle are found in Pliocene 
rocks of Asia and Europe, the type being entirely absent from 
America. 
The European buffalo is apparently earlier than the ox, as 
indicated by fossil remains. Asia has remained the home of 
the kine group whence indirectly our domestic ox must, in all 
probability, be derived from three species living at no very 
distant date in Europe. The ‘Bos primogenius is said to have 
been partially domesticated in Europe during the middle ages 
and is described as black with a white stripe above. Lineal 
descendants of this form are said to still exist in a half wild 
condition in Scotland. Bos frontosus, an extinct species with a 
broad concave forehead is said to be the progenitor of the 
short-horn breeds and Bos brachyceros of the spotless and large- 
horned breeds. Africa has no endemic species of ox, the 
probability being that the zebu has been imported thither. 
