DESCRIPTION OF THE SKULL OF AN EXTINCT HORSE, 

 FOUND IN CENTRAL ALASKA 



By OLIVER P. HAY 



research associate of the carnegie institution of washington 



(With Two Plates) 



On January 25, 191 3, there arrived at the U. S. National Museum 

 the fossil skull of a horse which had been sent from the interior of 

 Alaska. Hitherto our knowledge of Alaskan horses has depended on 

 very scanty remains, such as single teeth, or a very few associated 

 teeth, and a few bones, or fragments of them. These scanty 

 remains had, however, been found at a considerable number of 

 places ; and, meager as they were, they showed that at some time in 

 the past horses had been widely distributed in that apparently inhos- 

 pitable region. A map is here presented (fig. 1) which shows the 

 localities, where, as far as the writer knows, evidences of fossil horses 

 have been found in Alaska and Yukon territories. Doubtless many 

 remains have been discovered which have not been reported ; and 

 possibly a few announcements have escaped the notice of the writer. 



The skull here described was discovered, in the course of mining 

 operations, by Mr. C. P. Snyder, near Tofty, Alaska (fig. 1 (13)), a 

 small mining town situated on Sullivan's Creek, about 24 miles south- 

 west of Rampart and 7 miles northwest of Hot Springs. Rampart 

 is on the Yukon River, about 4 east of the center of the territory. 

 Sullivan's Creek empties into the Tanana River. The skull has been 

 deposited for the present in the V. S. National Museum, and has 

 been given the number 7700. In some of the cavities of the specimen 

 is an extremely fine-grained deposit ; a fact which shows that the 

 skull had been buried in the silts, which are so abundant along the 

 great rivers of Alaska. 



The skull (pis. 1, 2) lacks the lower jaws, also the greater part of 

 both nasals, the ascending processes of the premaxillae, and the 

 upper borders of the maxillae over the premolar teeth. Otherwise 

 it is in fine condition. The bone is stained brown ; and, while thor- 

 oughly mineralized, retains its original structure. Nearly all the 

 sutures are yet open. The teeth, too, are in fine condition and in the 

 most favorable stage for study. The animal appears to have been 



Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. 61, No. 2 



