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  AMERICAN 
  JOURNAL 
  OF 
  SCIENCE 
  

  

  [FOURTH 
  SERIES.] 
  

  

  JUN2 
  1920) 
  

  

  Aet. 
  XXX. 
  — 
  A 
  Tiny 
  Oligocene 
  Artiodactyl, 
  Hypisodus 
  

   alacer, 
  sp. 
  nov.; 
  by 
  Edwaed 
  L. 
  Teoxell. 
  

  

  [Contributions 
  from 
  the 
  Othniel 
  Charles 
  Marsh 
  Publication 
  Fund, 
  Pea- 
  

   body 
  Museum, 
  Yale 
  University, 
  New 
  Haven, 
  Conn.] 
  

  

  When 
  in 
  1873 
  1 
  Professor 
  Cope 
  described 
  the 
  type 
  of 
  

   Hypisodus 
  minimus, 
  "the 
  smallest 
  of 
  artiodactyls," 
  

   little 
  did 
  Professor 
  Marsh 
  suspect 
  that 
  in 
  the 
  collec- 
  

   tion 
  made 
  in 
  1870 
  for 
  the 
  Yale 
  Museum 
  there 
  was 
  a 
  

   very 
  well-preserved 
  skull 
  a 
  little 
  smaller 
  even 
  than 
  the 
  

   type 
  of 
  Professor 
  Cope. 
  The 
  specimen 
  comes 
  to 
  light 
  

   now 
  as 
  a 
  result 
  of 
  the 
  revival 
  in 
  vertebrate 
  paleontology 
  

   at 
  Yale, 
  under 
  the 
  direction 
  of 
  Professor 
  Lull, 
  made 
  

   possible 
  by 
  the 
  generous 
  bequest 
  of 
  Professor 
  Marsh 
  

   himself. 
  

  

  There 
  is 
  a 
  peculiar 
  interest 
  attached 
  to 
  the 
  very 
  small 
  

   mammals 
  : 
  the 
  primitive 
  ancestors 
  were 
  all 
  of 
  that 
  type, 
  

   apparently, 
  but 
  about 
  the 
  only 
  ones 
  left 
  of 
  those 
  tiny 
  

   creatures 
  in 
  the 
  Oligocene 
  are 
  the 
  rodents 
  and 
  insecti- 
  

   vores. 
  Our 
  interest 
  is 
  especially 
  drawn 
  to 
  the 
  very 
  small 
  

   deer 
  which 
  are 
  so 
  little 
  known, 
  and 
  particularly 
  to 
  

   Hypisodus, 
  where 
  we 
  find 
  for 
  the 
  first 
  time 
  in 
  America 
  

   the 
  long-crowned 
  teeth 
  of 
  a 
  grazing 
  animal. 
  

  

  The 
  classification 
  of 
  these 
  little 
  animals 
  has 
  been 
  a 
  

   difficult 
  problem, 
  for 
  their 
  strange 
  characters 
  show 
  them 
  

   to 
  be 
  too 
  advanced 
  to 
  be 
  ancestral 
  to 
  any 
  members 
  of 
  

   the 
  allied 
  even-toed 
  ungulates. 
  Doctor 
  Matthew 
  2 
  says 
  

   they 
  are 
  near 
  the 
  chevrotains 
  of 
  southern 
  Asia, 
  and 
  that 
  

   therefore 
  their 
  nearest 
  American 
  allies 
  are 
  the 
  Hyper- 
  

  

  1 
  E. 
  D. 
  Cope, 
  Synopsis 
  of 
  new 
  Vertebrata 
  from 
  the 
  Tertiary 
  of 
  Colorado, 
  

   p. 
  5. 
  

  

  2 
  W. 
  D. 
  Matthew, 
  Mem. 
  Amer. 
  Mus. 
  Nat. 
  Hist., 
  vol. 
  1, 
  pp. 
  440-442. 
  Bull. 
  

   Amer. 
  Mus. 
  Nat. 
  Hist., 
  vol. 
  16, 
  pp. 
  311-316, 
  1902 
  ; 
  vol. 
  21, 
  pp. 
  24-26, 
  1905 
  ; 
  

   vol. 
  24, 
  pp. 
  535-562, 
  1908. 
  

  

  Am. 
  Jour. 
  Sci.— 
  Fourth 
  Series, 
  Vol. 
  XLIX, 
  No. 
  294.— 
  June, 
  J 
  920. 
  

  

  28 
  

  

  