98 The Badland. Formations of the Black Hills Region 



the ground; why the little finger disappeared second (Protoro- 

 hippus stage), as the next shortest of the series; why the toes 

 corresponding to the index — and ring — fingers (Mesohippus 

 stage) for an enormously long period helped to support the mid- 

 dle finger. Pursuing the comparison further, we can understand 

 how the wrist is transformed into what is falsely called the knee 

 of the horse, the back of the hand into the cannon-bone of the 

 horse, the fingers into the pastern, the finger-nails into the hoofs."* 



Among the later horses from the badland formations, Neo- 

 hipparion whitneyi of the Upper Miocene is noteworthy. The 

 type specimen found on Little White river by Mr. H. F. Wells 

 of the American Museum expedition of 1902, and described by 

 Mr. Gidley in 1903, is the most perfect fossil horse skeleton ever 

 discovered.'*' Osborn states that the preservation of the skeleton 

 is extraordinary, even the rib cartilages being found in place 

 as well as the tip of the tail.* The skeleton, approximately forty 

 inches high, was that of a mare, and was found in association 

 with the incomplete skeletons of five colts. It was proportioned 

 like the Virginia deer, "delicate and extremely fleet-footed, sur- 

 passing the most highly bred modern race-horse in its speed 

 mechanism, and with a frame fashioned to outstrip any type of 

 modern hunting horse, if not thoroughbred." 



Notwithstanding the highly developed nature of its skeleton 

 Neohipparion represents a side branch of the horse family and 

 for some reason, like Hypohippus, the "forest horse" and Para- 

 hippus, became extinct. Protohippus, an animal of about the 

 same size as Neohipparion, survived and established for itself, 

 as did the earlier Mesohippus, a definite place in the genealogical 

 line leading to Equus of today. 



TITANOTHERIIDAE 



The Titanotheres are the largest animals found in the bad- 

 land formations of the Black Hills region. With the exception 

 of turtles and Oreodons they are also the most abundant. 



Dr. Hiram A. Prout of St. Louis, in 1846 and 1847, describ- 

 ed briefly in the American Journal of Science a portion of the 

 lower jaw of one of these animals, the first specimen ever obtain- 



*Osborn, H. F. The Evolution of the Horse in America. Century 

 Mag., Vol. 6 9, 19 04, p, 7. 



fGidley, J. W. A New Threte^toed Horae. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. 19, 1903, .pp.. 465-476. 



JOsboirn, H. P. The Evolution' of the Horse in America. Cen- 

 tury Mag., Vol. 69, 1904, pp. 3-17. 



