NORTH AMERICA AND THE WEST INDIES 257 



(2) Tylopoda, the camels and their South American rela- 

 tives, the huanaco and vicuna. 



(3) Pecora, the ruminants, to which belong the three families 

 treated herein: 



(1) Cervidae, the deer. Six forms of wapiti, 11 forms of the 

 American deer, and 13 forms of caribou are considered to come 

 within the scope of this work. 



(2) Antilocapridae, the North American pronghorn antelope. 

 Four races of the single Recent species are here recognized. 

 The familv is the only endemic group of the Artiodactyla in the 

 New World. 



(3) Bovidae, the cattle and their relatives. All the American 

 representatives of this group, except the Rocky Mountain 

 goat (19 forms, 3 genera), are included here as vanishing mam- 

 mals. J. E. H. 



Family CERVIDAE: Deer 



THE WAPITI, OR AMERICAN ELK 



These large deer, although almost universally called elk in 

 America, should more properly be termed by the American 

 Indian name wapiti, since elk in the Old World was originally 

 applied to the species resembling our moose, found across 

 northern Europe and Asia. In general appearance this animal 

 is much like the familiar red deer of Europe but is much larger 

 and of a darker color, without the whitish eye ring of the latter. 

 The antlers, too, in addition to their larger size, seldom show 

 the "cup" of the Old World species, in which the three termi- 

 nal tines tend to come off together. Originally found over 

 most of temperate North America, this species has become very 

 greatly restricted in range within the three centuries since 

 active settlement by Europeans. At present some half dozen 

 geographic races are recognized, which may be taken up in 

 detail, as follows : 



EASTERN WAPITI, OR ELK 

 CERVUS CANADENSIS CANADENSIS Erxleben 



Cervus elaphus canadensis Erxleben, Syst. Regni Animal., vol. 1, p. 305, 1777 (Eastern 



Canada; as later restricted, "near Montreal," Quebec). 

 FIGS.: Audubon and Bachman, 1851, vol. 2, pi. 62 (colored figure of animals caught 



when young in western Pennsylvania). 



