274 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



fornia is after all only slightly smaller than the form of the 

 Rocky Mountains. Compared with the latter it is paler, with 

 a smaller and narrower rump-patch. The legs are shorter, 

 and the skull is slightly smaller but has longer palatal bones 

 in proportion. Premolar and molar teeth are of the same length 

 in both, hence relatively larger in nannodes. Antlers in general 

 similar to those of the Rocky Mountain form but smaller and 

 with the posterior terminal prong less developed. "Front of 

 legs and feet bright golden fulvous; back and flanks varying 

 from buffy gray, slightly washed with fulvous, to grizzled 

 buffy whitish"; inner side of the ears "buffy white, the white, 

 particularly at posterior base, much more extensive than in the 

 other" races. The type specimen, a two-year old male, had a 

 total length of 2,030 mm.; tail, 140; hind foot, 620; basilar 

 length of skull, 358 mm. as against 388 in a male of same age 

 representing the Rocky Mountain form. 



Prior to 1860 this form of elk was common in nearly the 

 entire San Joaquin and Sacramento Valleys, California, 

 especially in their lower parts. It was found at least as far 

 north as Butte Creek, in Butte County, and south to near 

 Bakersfield, Kern County, and westward through the southern 

 inner coast ranges as far as the plains of the Cuyama Valley, 

 San Luis Obispo County, and extreme northern Santa Barbara 

 County, and to the south end of San Francisco Bay, Santa 

 Clara County (Grinnell, 1933). "The encroachments of civili- 

 zation have resulted in the gradual extermination of this elk 

 over the greater part of its former range, until" by the end of 

 the last century it had become "restricted to a small area 

 between Tulare and Buena Vista lakes, where at present 

 [i. e. in 1905] the survivors are confined almost exclusively to 

 lands included in an extensive cattle ranch (Buttonwillow 

 Ranch) owned by Miller and Lux. " About 1903 these owners 

 presented the herd to the United States Government and a 

 park for its reception was constructed on Kaweah River in 

 the Sequoia National Park. In November, 1904, an attempt 

 was made to round up and corral this herd and move the 

 animals to the new area, but it was not a success, for "the elk 

 refused to be driven and escaped to the adjacent foothills of the 

 Temploa Mountains. " During the process several were roped, 

 with fatal results, but the skins and skulls were preserved for the 

 U. S. Biological Survey collection (Merriam, 1905). Since 



