18 HALL OF THE AGE OF MAN 
species 1s Lquus scotti, the skeleton of 
which has been discovered in northern 
Texas. 
Autumn in New Jersey 
The autumn scene in northern New 
Jersey embraces three very distinctive 
North American types of the period, 
all of which have become extinct. The 
deer-moose (Cervalces) (to the left) 
was described by Professor W. B. Scott, 
of Princeton, from a single skeleton 
found in the gravel beds of northern 
New Jersey, which is now preserved 
complete in the Princeton Museum. 
The American fossil tapir (in the cen- 
ter) is known from sparse remains, 
the best of which were among the ear- 
liest discoveries of the pioneers of 
American paleontology. The giant, 
beaver-like animals of the genus Cas- 
toroides (see two individuals at the 
right in the painting) are known from 
nearly complete skulls and skeletons 
discovered in Ohio and other central 
western states. They are not true 
giant beaver. 
The remaining mural of this series 
will represent a scene in southern Cali- 
fornia, in the vicinity of the Rancho- 
la-Brea deposits, including the remains 
of the astonishing group of animals 
caught in the asphalt trap, so splen- 
didly represented in the collection of 
the Museum of History, Science, and 
Art, of Los Angeles. 
Closely Related North and South 
American Mammals of the 
Glacial Epoch 
The most characteristic animals of 
North and South America that lived 
during the Age of Man (see the south 
side of the hall) are known through 
some of the unique remains from the 
famous deposits of Rancho-la-Brea 
of southern California, especially the 
sloths, saber-toothed tigers, and wolves 
of the period—to which it is hoped that 
we may add some of the less abundant 
forms, like the camel and the horse. 
So far as possible, through exploration 
and exchange, this quarter section of 
the hall will represent the mammalan 
life of North America, in contrast with 
the mammalian hfe of South America 
during the same period of time. : 
The Museum is also extraordinarily 
rich in the great Pampean Collection 
presented by certain of the trustees in 
1899. ‘This collection shows the close 
connections between North and South 
America in glacial times. | 
One of the most wonderful fossil 
groups in the Museum, if not the most 
wonderful, is the sloth and glyptodont 
group (center of southern side of the 
hall of the Age of Man). This group 
is still in preparation. It includes five 
sloths of two varieties (the Mylodon 
and Scelidothertum) and three glypto- 
“donts. These animals, so entirely dif- 
ferent in external appearance and 
habits, nevertheless belong to the same 
order of mammals, the KEdentata, 
which, as its name implies, is distin- 
guished by the absence of enamel on 
the teeth. It is important to bring 
these two animals together in the same 
exhibit, so as to show the very wide 
contrasts in adaptation which may oc- 
cur within the limits of a single mam- 
malhan order: the sloths covered with 
long hair and with vestiges of armature 
embedded in the skin, the glyptodonts 
nearly hairless, and encased in power- 
ful bony armature, which renders them 
completely immune to attack by the 
saber-toothed tiger of the period. 
A Loess Storm on the Pampas 
of Argentina 
A mural on the western wall (at the 
left) of the hall of the Age of Man 
presents a South American scene dur- 
ing the Old Stone age. It depicts the 
ancient pampas of Argentina with the 
winding river La Plata in the back- 
ground, and a typical extinct mam- 
malian fauna. In the distance at the 
right a violent dust storm is transport- 
ing columns of fine, impalpable dust 
known as loess. 

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