i9i8. ScHARFF. — The Irish Red Deer. 137 



Some of these measurements seem to me of little value, 

 and it is very difficult to indicate precisely how they were 

 taken. However, on the whole, they give us a fair idea 

 of the general proportions of the skull. Taking into 

 consideration the fact that we are comparing quite a' small 

 modern Red Deer hind with large skulls of old stags which 

 may be of great antiquity, there is a remarkable resemblance 

 between them. As we should expect the two stag skulls 

 are much larger in every respect. Yet the proportions 

 between the nasals, for example, and the antorbital vacuity 

 are about the same, while the lengths of the upper molar 

 and premolar tooth series are practically identical. From 

 the measurements given it would be impossible to prove 

 that the recent hind is the genuine descendant of the old 

 Irish stock of Red Deer, because the latter may not be 

 distinct from the British stock, and I have no skulls available 

 from England or Scotland. 



In the paper already cited by Prof. Lonnberg two adult 

 Scottish stags are referred to, and he states that their 

 dimensions agree fairly well with that of the Irish recent 

 hind in the Dublin Museum. Both, he remarks, are small- 

 headed and short-nosed with small antorbital vacuities and 

 large " foramina supraorbitalia." Although the Scottish 

 skulls examined by Prof. Lonnberg belonged to fully adult 

 Red Deer with antlers carrying five tines on each side 

 they only had a basicranial length of 311 and 319 mill, 

 respectively. They were therefore not much longer than the 

 skull of the Irish hind and greatly shorter than the two 

 Irish stag skulls given in my list. Nevertheless the length 

 of the upper premolar and molar series in all these skulls 

 varies from 92-99 mill. The size of the antorbital vacuity 

 agrees in the three Irish skulls examined. Prof. Lonnberg 

 only states that the antorbital vacuity in the Scottish 

 skulls corresponds in size and shape with that of the 

 Norwegian skulls which he tells us resembles that of the 

 Irish hind. The dimensions of this vacuity in the Scottish 

 skulls are about 48 mill, long by 18 mill, broad. The cor- 

 responding measurements in the Irish skulls are 50 mill, 

 by 20 mill. The size of the antorbital vacuity therefore 

 agrees fairly well in the Irish, Scottish, and Norwegian 



