456 LAND MAMMALS IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE 



In conclusion, a few words may be said concerning the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the fAmblypoda. In the Paleocene 

 the only known representatives of the order were those of 

 North America, but the jcoryphodonts of the lower Eocene 

 migrated to the Old World; indeed, the genus '\Coryphodon 

 was first described and named from EngUsh specimens, but 

 there were no such abundance and variety of these animals 

 in Europe as there were in the western United States. The 

 fuintatheres were strictly North American in distribution and 

 no member of the suborder has ever been found outside of this 

 continent. Animals referred to the fAmblypoda by some 

 authorities have been obtained in the Oligocene and Miocene 

 of South America, but the assignment has been made upon 

 insufficient evidence. (See p. 508.) 



Order fCoNDYLARTHRA 



The fCondylarthra were a group of exceedingly primitive 

 ungulates, which served to connect the hoofed and clawed 

 mammals in quite an intimate manner. So few indeed were 

 the distinctively ungulate characters which they had acquired, 

 that it is still premature to make any positive statements re- 

 garding their geographical distribution, because unusually 

 well-preserved specimens are required to make sure of their 

 presence in any particular region. Concerning North America 

 there is no room for question, and there is hardly any doubt 

 that they existed in the Paleocene of Europe. The South 

 American remains which have been referred to this order may 

 very well prove eventually to belong to it properly, but until 

 both feet and skulls have been obtained in unequivocal associa- 

 tion, the reference can be only tentative. In North America 

 they ranged through the Paleocene and lower Eocene, but are 

 not known from any subsequent formation, and even in the 

 Wind River only a few stragglers survived. 



The principal American families and genera are as follows : 



