This made its
appearance before the Glacial period, and appears to be in reality
identical with the existing Horse (_Equus caballus_). True Horses
also occur in the Post-Pliocene of North America; but, from some
cause or another, they must have been exterminated before historic
times.
[Illustration: Fig. 264--Skeleton of the "Irish Elk" (_Cervus
megaceros_). Post-Pliocene, Britain.]
Amongst the Even-toed Ungulates, the great _Hippopotamus major_
of the Pliocene still continued to exist in Post-Pliocene times
in Western Europe; and the existing Wild Boar (_Sus scrofa_),
the parent of our domestic breeds of Pigs, appeared for the first
time. The Old World possessed extinct representatives of its
existing Camels, and lost types of the living Llamas inhabited
South America. Amongst the Deer, the Post-Pliocene accumulations
have yielded the remains of various living species, such as the
Red Deer (_Cervus elaphus_), the Reindeer (_Cervus tarandus_),
the Moose or Elk (_Alces malchis_), and the Roebuck (_Cervus
capreolus_), together with a number of extinct forms. Among the
latter, the great "Irish Elk" (_Cervus megaceros_) is justly
celebrated both for its size and for the number and excellent
preservation of its discovered remains. This extinct species
(fig. 264) has been found principally in peat-mosses and
Post-Pliocene lake-deposits, and is remarkable for the enormous
size of the spreading antlers, which are widened out towards
their extremities, and attain an expanse of over ten feet from
tip to tip.
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