GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF THE TERRITORIES. 359 



distinguishes the species from those just named, but we have no evi- 

 dence to prove that it is not identical with the M. Shepardi. 



ELEPHAS. 



The most colossal of all terrestrial animals, the elephants, are now 

 confined to Southern Asia and Africa. Prior to the actual period spe- 

 cies existed in Asia, Europe, and North America which are now extinct. 



Eleplias americanus. — Eemains of an extinct species of elephant have 

 been discovered throughout the greater part of the North American 

 Continent. Generally these remains have been viewed as pertaining to 

 the Eleplias primigenius, an extinct species of Europe and Northern Asia, 

 and which probably also extended into the extreme northwest of North 

 America. There appear now to be sufficient grounds to consider the 

 American elephant a distinct species from the one just named. The late 

 Dr. Falconer, of England, who perhaps more than any one else had studied 

 the characters of the elephant family, supposed that among the remains 

 found throughout North America there were evidences of two species, 

 one of which he called Eleplias columbi, and the other he viewed as the 

 E. primigenius. The writer also thought he recognized a different spe- 

 cies from the common one in some remains obtained by Professor Hay- 

 den on the Niobrara River. Upon a review of all the material pertaining 

 to the subject, he now considers that the remains of North America, 

 which have been referred to several species of elephant, belong to but 

 one, distinguished by the name heading this article. 



SOLIDUNGULA. 



This order is now represented by the single genus Equus, of which 

 no living species is indigenous to America. Fossil remains go to show 

 that during earlier geological periods the order was nowhere so well 

 represented as it was in America. The members of the order are divis- 

 ible into two groups or families, which have been named the Equidce 

 and the Ancliitfieridce. 



Equidw. 



The equine family is represented at this time by nine or ten species 

 of equus, which appear all to be indigenous to Asia and Africa. Other 

 species of the same genus inhabited Europe, Asia, and North America 

 during the middle and later tertiary periods extending into the quater- 

 nary period. 



EQUUS. 



Though no indigenous species of horse appears to have existed on the 

 American continent during the period of man, a number of them inhabited 

 the country just previously and contemporaneously with the great masto- 

 don, the elephant, the giant sloths of both North and South America, 

 &c. Dr. Lund and Professor Owen have indicated several species from 

 remains found in the latter continent. A number of species have like- 

 wise been indicated from remains pertaining to the pliocene and quater- 

 nary deposits of North America. 



Equus fossilis. — This name has been appropriated to a species whose re- 

 mains are found in the quaternary deposits of Europe and Northern Asia. 



