The Washington herald., 1911-02-05

true cats. rivaling the modern lion and
tiger in size.
"A fact Of great importance is that we
now witness for the first time the life Of
the entire United States, Of the plains
and mountain region Of the West. Of the
Pacific Slope. of the vast and hitherto
unknown forested stretches Of the East,
Of the sandy savannas Of the South. as
we'll as Of portions Of British Columbia
and Alaska
Equas Zones.
Now. one OF the most abundant NAM
mails Of the time In deposits bordering
on great grassy plains and uplands is
the horse. For this reason these forma-
tons have come to be known to collec-
tors as Equus beds or Equus zone. In
the early phases Of the zone. in the life
Of the Western and Southwestern plains,
true camels are found as web IS llamas.
mammoths, Columbian and imperial,
peccaries and sloths. the giant beaver,
and many giant saber-tooths. The most
numerous forms next to the horses were
the cameloids, animals identical neither
with the existing camel nor the llama.
As to the horse in particular, ]. w.
Gidley. one Of the careful students Of
teeth to whom science owes SO much, Is
quoted to the effect that there were at
least ten forms or species of horses in
different parts Of the United States and
Mexico in Pleistocene times, distin-
guished by geographic distribution, by
size. and by the proportions of the body
and skull. and by the characters Of the
upper grinding teeth
One Of these horses characteristic of
the Southern United States was very
small. with teeth scarcely as large as
those OF the Mexican donkey and of a
very complex pattern. Another was
found in the South, West. and Middle
West, and had teeth as large as those of
The ordinary horse. but the skeleton was
Of intermediate size and the skull had a
short muzxle like that Of an ass.
From Western Texas comes a horse
which IN some respects bore close rela-
to the ass. On the Staked Plains
Of Central Texas has been found a horse
with, long face. relatively large head.
long body. short neck. resembling In its
the quaSga.
Also from Texas comes the largest spe-
cies Of horse yet recorded, 'the teeth ex-
ceedin9 those Of the largest modern
draught horses by more' than one-third
Of the diameter Of the latter" But in
contrast with this there is the smallest
true horse known in America, coming
from the valley Of Mexico, more diminu-
i've than any European species, living
or extinct OF another species found in
Mexico no description is given.
The next largest Pleistocene horse. best
known IN Oregon. has a skeleton which
indicates an animal about the size Of
the ordinary draft horse, but with a
skull disproportionately large. Other
tVVnA tn in
California.
Early InAabitants.
But this age terminated in a wide
spread extinction Of quadrupeds. At the
Of the period North America
was peopled With camels. llamas. tapirs.
elephants. giant sloths. and
many other animals and horses. One
would assume that their extinction was
directly brought about by changes Of
and moisture consequent
upon the gJ6at geological changes Of the
glacial times. "But," says Prof. Os-
bofne. -the extinction>oe tha horse does
not admit such . simple explanation"
In Europe the Mediterranean Sea pre-
sented barrier to escape or migration
to the south. But IN North America
there were broad continental areas and
routes southward and every means Of
escape.
Here. then b. tie writer's statement
- TO this problem: 'It 10 therefore moro
IN sccord With tAe facfs 20 say that the
glaclal peT3od in North America origi-
natsd cestatn nev cnuditions OF NE
which directly or Indirectly reeultsd In
exx1nctt6a Thne eondifions includs d.
ni1iQhsd hssxg eafmcad mlGFations, The
- ael1h1-oN1Eefupa1ng of certain SOUTH
eFiy 0eas. d6Angod conditions Of feed-
Nc. dlefme aees u ths peE1od q mating
aha relgo4ucttoa. NV re5a11ooD VIII ~
FiopD enHnj14 aridity. and dA1ogestA-
tiqa: n eh1st 4 hpst of h1lroc1 cnnsess"
~ any r64e - hotoe dig2pDeered not
y rSno9oar b A0ex1oa unt1l Eprtoo eaNo
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