CHAPTER III 



THE DESEADO FAUNA 



THE exposure of the Deseado, which the Amherst party 

 worked, yielded 293 specimens, each presumably repre- 

 senting an individual. (There were besides these a few 

 that were indeterminate and are not therefore included.) 

 The consideration of the fauna as a whole suggests certain 

 ideas as to the country in which the animals lived, and 

 also certain comparisons with the fauna of the preceding 

 and later faunas. 



The first striking feature is the presence of so many 

 excessively large animals, as Asmodeus, Parastrapotherium, 

 and Pyrotherium, in each case forms larger than a rhinoce- 

 ros. Further than that they are in each case the largest 

 members of their family, even larger than the representa- 

 tives in the later Santa Cruz. This would indicate a period 

 in which living conditions were at a high grade, sug- 

 gesting both abundance of food and a moderate climate. 



The following table will give a good idea as to the range 

 of species, and their relative abundance in the fauna, also 

 a suggestion as to the class of food they used ; and from that 

 an idea as to what sort of country they occupied : 



PER NUM- SPECIES FOOD COUNTRY 



CENT BER 



3 Hegetotherium shumwayi 

 7 Prosotherium garzoni 



17 Prosotherium triangulidens 

 I Eutrachytherus grandis 



4 Eutrachytherus spegazzinius i^JSpJJ } Plains 



1 Isoproedrium solitarium 



2 Phanophilus dorsatus 

 4 Argyrohyrax proavus 

 I Plagiarthrus clivus 



14% 40 TYPOTHERIA 



