MEGACEROS HIBERNICUS 457 
The first (fig. 184) which apparently corresponds with 
the state of the antlers at the fourth year in the Fallow- 
deer,* is five feet in length, and fourteen inches across the 
palm: it presents a simple cylindrical and pointed brow- 
antler (47); a short and simple bezantler (4z); the hind 
branch almost straight, and only two long branches from the 
fore-part of the palm, which terminates in three short 
straight obtuse points, the middle being the longest. The 
second figure (fig. 185) shows an expansion and flattening 
of the brow-antler, an elongation of the bezantler and of the 
anterior branches of the palm, and the prolongation of the 
three terminal points into branches: the total number of 
branches being eight. The length of the antler, following 
the curve, is six feet ; the greatest breadth of the palm 
fifteen inches. This form of antler corresponds with that 
at the fifth year in the Fallow-deer. In the third figure, 
(fig. 186,) the brow-antler is expanded and bifurcate ; the 
bezantler is likewise expanded and divided into two points, 
but this is a very rare variety. It is shown on the right 
side in a pair of antlers in the Hunterian Museum, and in 
both antlers of the remarkably fine skeleton in the Museum 
of the Royal Dublin Society. The palm is much increased 
in breadth and sends off six branches besides the posterior 
one, the number of points in this antler being eleven. The 
length of the antler following its curve, is seven feet ; the 
breadth of the palm thirty inches. Such an antler would 
indicate the Megaceros to have reached the prime of its 
age, like the ‘crowned Hart’ of the seventh or eighth 
year. The antlers of the Megaceros, which retain the 
same expanse of palm with shorter branches, especially the 
terminal ones, have probably belonged to older animals 
when the reproductive force was on the decline. 
* © Bell’s Quadrupeds,’ p. 404, the middle figure. 
