The Zoology of North American Big Game 



any such connection must at present be purely 

 speculative, but the element of doubt In this special 

 case In no way disturbs the certainty of the general 

 conclusion that all our present Cervida have come 

 through distinct stages In the successive periods, 

 from the simple types of the middle Tertiary. 



The family Is undoubtedly of old world origin, 

 and for the most part belongs to the northern 

 hemisphere. South America being the only conti- 

 nental area in which they are found south of the 

 equator. 



The analytical habit of mind which finds vent 

 in the subdivision of species, is also exhibited in a 

 tendency to break up large genera Into a number 

 of small ones, but in the present group this practice 

 has the disadvantage of obscuring a broad distinc- 

 tion between the dominant types inhabiting respec- 

 tively the old world and the new. The former, 

 represented by the genus Cervus, has a brow-tine 

 to the antlers; has the posterior portion of the 

 nasal chamber undivided by the vertical plate of 

 the vomer; and the upper ends only of the lateral 

 metacarpals remain, whereas in all these particu- 

 lars the typical American deer are exactly opposite. 

 As there are objections to considering these charac- 

 ters as of family value, arising from the Interme- 

 diate position of the circumpolar genera Alces and 



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