278 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



seems no reason to be apprehensive for its survival for a long 

 time to come. Nevertheless, in order to preserve the race in 

 its purity, care should be exercised that introductions of the 

 Rocky Mountain elk are avoided within the range of this 

 coastal form. 



EASTERN MULE DEER; PLAINS MULE DEER 

 ODOCOILEUS HEMIONUS HEMIONUS (Rafinesque) 



Cervus hemionus Rafinesque, Amer. Monthly Mag., vol. 1, p. 436, Oct., 1817 (Sioux 



River, South Dakota). 

 SYNONYM: Cariacus virgultus Hallock, Forest and Stream, vol. 52, p. 404, May 27, 



1899 (Near Hallock, Kittson County, Minnesota). 

 FIG.: Nelson, 1916, col. fig. on p. 455. 



Unlike the white-tailed deer, this is more a species of open 

 or rough brushy country, so that where its range meets that 

 of the former it is found in a different type of habitat. The 

 antlers, while often having a basal prong, are usually charac- 

 terized by the dichotomous forking of the main beam. The 

 ears are longer than in the white-tailed group; the tail is short 

 and either black-tipped or largely black above (black-tailed 

 deer of the Pacific coast) . The metatarsal gland is much longer 

 and higher up on the foot. Both these types of deer are charac- 

 terized by the extension of the vomer backward to form a 

 complete longitudinal division of the posterior nasal passage; 

 both also belong to the group Telemetacarpalia, in which the 

 lateral digits of the forefeet are represented by the outer in- 

 stead of the inner ends of the metacarpals. 



As a species the mule deer and its west coast forms, the black- 

 tailed deer, are or originally were found from the eastern edge 

 of the Plains to the Pacific Ocean. While most of the western 

 races are still abundant locally, the eastern form is largely 

 extinct and may therefore be mentioned here. Baird describes 

 its color as "ashy brown, pointed or varied with gray, and 

 without any rusty tinge whatever. There is a distinctly marked 

 stripe from the crown of the head to the root of the tail, the 

 hairs in which are much darker throughout their extent than 

 elsewhere. The under parts generally appear to be ashy 

 brown, like the back, but without annulation of the hairs. 

 The only whitish portion of the inferior surface is seen beneath 

 the head, around the axillae, and in the groin. On each side 

 of the tail, on the end of the rump, is a dull white patch, 



