Animals of North America 



leas, we have found the complete skeleton of a 

 small animal named Merycodus, nineteen inches 

 high, possessed of a complete set of delicate 

 antlers with the characteristic burr at the base indi- 

 cating the annual shedding of the horn, and a gen- 

 eral structure of skeleton which suggests our so- 

 called pronghorn antelope, Antilocapra, rather 

 than our true American deer, Odocoileus. This 

 was in all probability a distinctively American 

 type. Its remains have been found in eastern 

 Colorado in the geological age known as Middle 

 Miocene, which is estimated {sub rosa, like all 

 our other geological estimates), at about a million 

 and a half years of age. Our first thought as we 

 study this small, strikingly graceful animal, is 

 wonder that such a high degree of specialization 

 and perfection was reached at so early a period; 

 our second thought is the reverence for age 

 sentiment. 



THE AFRICAN PERIOD IN AMERICA. 



The conditions of environment were different 

 from what they were before or what they are now. 

 These animals flourished during the period in 

 which western America must have closely re- 

 sembled the eastern and central portions of Africa 

 at the present time. 



9 



