414 



LAND MAMMALS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 



regarding the deer of that time. In the lower Phocene and 

 through the whole Miocene we meet with frequent remains of 

 a genus {\Blastomeryx) which was quite probably the ancestor 

 of the American types of deer. It was considerably smaller 

 than any of the existing North American species and had no 

 antlers, but possessed the sabre-like, upper canine tusks, which 

 characterize the muntjacs and hornless deer of Asia. The 

 limb-bones had already attained nearly their present state of 



Fig. 221. — Lower Miocene thornless deer (,\ Blaatomeryx advena). Restored from 

 skeleton in the American Museum of Natural History. 



development, as regards the reduction of ulna and radius, for- 

 mation of cannon-bones, etc. ]Blastomeryx probably en- 

 tered North America in the lower Miocene, but, as was men- 

 tioned previously (p. 409), Dr. Matthew and Professor Osborn 

 regard the genus as autochthonous and descended from the 

 fHypertragulidse. 



In the middle Miocene \Blastomeryx gave rise to an ab- 

 errant genus {'\Merycodus) which has been made the type of a 

 distinct family (fMerycodontidse, see table, p. 362), but this 



