234 
JOURNAL OF MAMMALOGY 
half-century we may develop as large a variety of pronghorns and their relatives 
in this country as we have of true antelopes in the Old World. 
1 have ghen this instance of the pronghorn antelope simply to show that the 
Pleistocene and Pliocene mammal faunse were really of great richness and variety, 
and it is, therefore, no exaggeration to state that there has been a very great 
reduction in the mammal fauna when we pass down to the mammals of today. 
Dr. W. H. Osgood of the Field Museum of Natural History was then called upon 
and after agreeing with previous speakers, contributed a few further remarks to 
the discussion, giving his own impressions as to the contrast betv/een conditions 
in settled regions and what one finds in going to those which have been practically 
uninfluenced by the forces of modern civilization. He stated that this had been 
his privilege upon one or two occasions in South America, where he had happened 
to penetrate into some of the few regions where Indians are still hostile and 
where conditions and surroundings might be said to be almost as they have been 
from the beginning. He had been particularly impressed in these regions with 
the very great abundance of animal life of all sorts, and especially of those kinds 
upon which man might be said to prey. Birds of large size, as ducks and gallin- 
aceous birds, were found in such places to be as abundant as they were in this 
country when it was first settled, and he thought that this could also be truthfully 
stated about the members of the deer family and other groups of mammals. 
Such experiences bring an acute realization of the rapid changes that are taking 
place. 
Dr. Charles C. Adams of the Roosevelt Wild Life Experiment Station, at 
Syracuse, added the following comments upon the Close of the Age of Mammals: 
He regretted the terrific destruction which was going on and stated that condi- 
tions surely demanded improvement. His solution of the difficulty would be to 
use the forces of education and the widespread use of preserves making these the 
main means to help stem the tide. This education should not be content to deal 
only with adults, because unless it began before maturity — ’with the younger 
generation — it would be useless. And neither did he think that such education 
could be limited to the Audubon Society, which is a specialized society for birds. 
There is an urgent need, he said, of an organization upon a conservation basis that 
will begin at the bottom and cover thoroughly the whole field. And this means 
also that the idea of preserves must be developed on a very large scale. Doctor 
Adams believed that the preserve idea is a most constructive feature, especially 
if some of the federal land be segregated and administered by the Central Govern- 
ment supplementing the National Parks and N ational Forests . The carrying out 
of this idea would mean an increase of our state parks and forests on a plan hardly 
dreamed of at the present time. Not only is there a call for large game preserves, 
but small game preserves and wild life or natural history sanctuaries must be 
established, since the purpose of education would not be served by a few large 
preserves which would be at a distance from the larger part of the population. 
The preserves must be so located that people may be taught the conservation of 
wild life near at home. 
Another point that Doctor Adams brought out is the necessity for learning 
more of the life habits of the mammals ; as a necessary condition for their intelli- 
