The North American Cervidce. 



153 



over and ride through it, a little more than a gun-shot apart. The 

 deer that lie in their course are started from the grass, and bound 

 off ahead of the hunters, every now and then showing their backs 

 above the tops of the grass. The horsemen have to shoot from the 

 saddle, and very quickly, to secure their game. 



Fossil deer occur in the tertiary deposits of North America. In 

 the Miocene of the West are found remains of deer-like animals, 

 Leptomeryx ; and from the lower Pliocene a genus of true deer, 

 Cosoryx, has been described, of which there are several species. 

 These all have very small antlers, which are divided into two tines. 

 In their osteological characters these deer differed from existing 

 species in many respects. The orbit was not closed behind, and the 

 metapodial (splint) bones were entire, though those of the second 

 and fifth digits were very slender. 



In the Post-pliocene deposits, species of deer, closely allied to 

 our elk, moose, and caribou, have been found, the latter having been 

 met with far south of its present range. 



