MAMMALS OF THE MEXICAN BOUNDARY. 215 



^^Skull. — Cervus merriami has strongly marked skull characterw. 

 It differs strikingly from both Gervun canadensis, of the northern 

 Rocky Mountains, and tYomC'ervusroosevelti^oHh^ Northwest Coast, 

 in having the nasals remarkably broad and flattened ; the palate nar- 

 row between the posterior molars and in the great zygomatic breadth 

 and massive molars." 



Measurements. — Cranial measurements of adult male (No. 16211, 

 Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.) topotype, from the White Mountains, near 

 Springerville, Arizona: Occiput to front of premaxillse, 498 mm.; 

 palatal length, 288 ; length of nasals, 183 : greatest breadth of nasals, 

 83 ; greatest orbital breadth, 194 ; greatest breadth across premaxilla^, 

 99; breadth across parietals, 168; zygomatic breadth, 203; breadth 

 below lachrymal fossic, 157. (From Nelson.) 



Measurements of upper molar series (No. 16211, Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist.). — Total length of row, 137 mm.; distance between alveoli: 1st 

 P. M., 59; 2d P. M., 63; 3d P. M., 75; 1st M., 77; 2d M., 76; 3d M., 

 69 ; breadth of 2d M. at base, 31. (From Nelson.) 



Measurements of antlers (No. 16211, Am. Mus. Nat. Hist.). — Chord 

 from bur to tip, 1,067 mm.; distance along outside of curve, 1,240; 

 circumference above bur, 237. (From Nelson.) \ 



" The Arizona Elk, the last of the large game mammals of America 

 to become known to science, is already on the verge of extinction. So 

 far as I have been able to learn, its range has been long isolated and 

 in an area where the idea of game protection is very recent, and 

 where even now the protection afforded by The game laws (owing to 

 the remote situation) is more nominal than real. The present game 

 law of Arizona prohibits the shooting of elk at all seasons, and it is 

 to be hoped that an effort may be made to render this protection 

 effectual. 



" The only specimens of this species now known are the two obtained 

 by myself near the head of the Black River in the White Moun- 

 tains of Arizona. The type is in the National Museum, and the other 

 specimen, represented by the skull and antlei-s of an old male, is in the 

 American Museum of Natural History. The skull of the American 

 Museum specimen is described and figured in this paper, owing to the 

 temporary mislaying of the skull of the type [which is now in its 

 place in the U. S. National Museum collection]. 



'• I have found no published record of this species among earlier 

 authors, and the actual extent of its former range will be difficult to 

 determine. My first knowledge of its existence was obtained in the 

 fall of 1882, when some prospectors at Chloride, New Mexico, told me 

 that elk inhabited the Mogollon Mountains near the extreme head- 

 waters of Gila River. Nothing further was heard of it until the 

 early months of 1884, when I spent some time in exploring the Indian 

 ruins about the village now called Frisco, on the headwaters of the 



