The geographical distribution of animals, with a study of the relations ...

CHAPTEE VII.EXTINCT MAMMALIA OF THE NEW WORLD.The discoveries of very richdeposits of mammalian remains invarious parts of the United States have thrown great light onthe relations of the faunas of verv distant regions. NorthAmerica now makes a near approach to Europe in the numberand variety of itsextinct mammalia, and in no part of the worldhave such perfect specimens been discovered.In what are calledthe " Mauvaises terres " of Nebraska (the dried-up mud of anancient lake), thousands of entire crania and some almost entireskeletons of ancient animals have been found, their teeth absolutelyperfect, and altogether more resembling the preparationsof the anatomist, than time-worn fossils such as we are accustomedto see in the museums of Europe. Other deposits havebeen discovered in Oregon, California, Virginia, South Carolina,Texas, and Utah, ranging over all the Tertiary epochs, fromPost-Pliocene to Eocene, and furnishing a remarkable pictureof the numerous strange mammalia which inhabited the ancientNorth American continent.North America— Post-Pliocene Period.Insedivora.—The only indications of this order yet discovered,consists of a single tooth of some insectivorous animal foundin Illinois, but which cannot be referred to any known group.Carnivora.—These are fairly represented. Two species ofFelis as large as a lion ; the equally large extinct Trucifelis,found only in Texas ; four species of Canis, some of them larger