454 



REPORT OF STATE GEOLOGIST. 



garious habits and the herbivorous nature of their food, all com- 

 bined to render them independent of the biological environment. 

 Wolves and cougars killed an occasional stray calf or sick adult, but 

 they were without formidable enemies. Food was always at hand, 

 and neither skill nor cunning was required to procure it; or if it 

 failed because of drouth or fire, skill and cunning were of no avail. 

 Consequently the habits of the animals became fixed; their mental 

 capacity was not well developed and they were unable to cope with 

 enemies. 



Then white men came on the scene and the balance of nature 

 was upset. It is, of course true, that nature has never evolved an 

 animal capable of competing with gunpowder and rifle. However, 

 the gregarious habits and comparative fearlessness of the bison 

 rendered them especially easy victims and made it possible to de- 

 stroy them by the hundreds and thousands. 



Family CERVIDAE. 



DEER. 



The deer are ungulates with solid, usually branched antlers 

 which are shed and renewed each year; these usually are present 

 in the male only ; no incisor teeth in the upper jaw but upper ca- 

 nines often present ; stomach with four divisions as in other rumi- 

 nant animals. 



Genus Cervus Linnaeus. 



Dental Formula.— 1, ~; C, Pm, M, f^--34. 



Size large, standing four and a half to five feet at the shoulder ; 

 antlers, four and a half to five feet long, directed outward and back- 

 ward but with the tines all directed forward. 



This genus is represented by one species, now exterminated or 

 nearly so, in eastern North America, several closely allied species 

 in the west and a few others in Europe and Asia. All are deer of 

 large size. 



CERVUS CANADENSIS (Erxleben). 

 AMERICAN ELK; WAPITI. 



Cerviifi elaphus canadensis Erxleben, Syst. Regn. Animal, Vol. I, 

 p. 305, 1777. 



Ccrvns canadensis Desmarest, Mammah)gie, Vol. 2, p. 433, 1822. 

 Butler and Evermann, Proc. Ind. Acad. Sci. for 1893, p. 135, 

 1894. 



Diagnostic characters. — Distinguished from other members of 

 thc! deer family by its large size and long, branching antlers. 



