400 



CLASSIFICATION OF VERTEBRATES. 



ibex, and goats, the domestic goats supposed to descend from C. agagrus of 

 the eastern Mediterranean region. Ovis, the sheep, with several European 



species and one American, the big-horn, 

 O. inontana. Ovibos inoschatus, the 

 ' musk ox, 1 a goat rather than an 

 ox, is confined at present to Arctic 

 America. In pleistocene times it ranged 

 over Siberia and Europe, south to 

 France and England. In the bovine 

 series the horns are strong, some dis- 

 tance behind the eyes, often on the pos- 

 terior angle of the head; the frontals 

 large, theparietals small. Fossil species 

 first appear in the miocene of India, 

 later, in the pliocene of Europe and 

 America. Bnbalus, the buffalo of India 

 and Africa ; Bibos, the domesticated 

 Indian cattle, and the yak and ban- 

 teng ; Bison, the aurochs of Europe and 

 the ' buffalo ' of America, both near ex- 

 tinction. To Bos belong the domestic 

 cattle, and the now extinct ' ur ' of 



FIG. 369. Prong-horn antilope. 

 Antilocapra americana. 



Europe, which possibly lived as late as the composition of the Nibilungen 

 tales. 1 There is evidence to show that our domestic cattle are descended 

 from several distinct races. 



SUB-ORDER 4. AMBLYPODA. 



Large, extinct, semiplantigrade ungulates, the pentadactyl feet having 

 the distal phalanges surrounded by hoofs ; carpals alternating, molars lopho- 

 dont, brain very small. 



These forms, which begin in the lowest eocene, are regarded by Cope as 

 the ancestors of both artiodactyls and perissodactyls. They also show pro- 

 boscidian affinities. Pantolambda. CorypJwdon, with complete dentition, 

 feet digitigrade in front, plantigrade behind, ranged through the lower and 

 middle eocene. The species of Uintatheriuni (Dinoceras) were elephantine 

 in size, and bore on the head three pairs of large bony processes which may 

 or may not have borne horns. 



SUB-ORDER 5. PROBOSCIDEA. 



Pentadactyle ungulates with long proboscis (nose), skull increased in 

 size by vacuities in the bone ; incisors 2 never exceeding a pair in either jaw, 

 frequently the upper or the lower lacking; no canines, molars lophodont ; no 

 clavicles ; radius and ulna, tibia and fibula distinct ; stomach simple, caecum 



1 It is often suggested that the cattle of Chillingham Park, England, are descendants. 

 of these wild cattle. 



2 Frequently spoken of as canines ; however, they arise in the premaxilla, and only- 

 later do the roots extend back into the maxillae. 



