THE CERVID^E, OK DEER. 165 



Kuminant of this kind, out of which both plesio- 

 metacarpals as well as tele-metacarpals forms might 

 have developed. Gelocus is an adaptive species of 

 Ruminant from the Eocene. The skull as yet 

 scarcely shows the character of the ruminant, but 

 the molars are already reduced to f- , whereas other 

 genera of the same age show -f. The two principal 

 metatarsals (Fig. 24, c, in, iv) have coalesced 

 along almost their entire length ; the metatarsals 

 of the side toes have, however, disappeared in the 

 centre (Fig. 24, n, v), and only the lower and 

 upper ends remain (ra). Animals of this kind 

 might have descendants with feet of the Deer 

 species, another with feet like the Eoe. At all 

 events, deer and roe, both of these well-known 

 denizens of our forests, have been strangers to one 

 another from very remote times, strangers as 

 complete as the Canadian stag (the Wapiti) is to 

 all the other American Cervidae. 



An intermediate position between them is occu- 

 pied by the Elk and Reindeer. Both are circumpolar 

 species, and both, as regards construction of the 

 foot as tele-metacarpal species are allied to the 

 deer of the New World, the reindeer, moreover, by 

 the form of the nasal cavity. Our material is at 



present too fragmentary to enable us clearly to 

 16 



