CARIACUS VIRUIXIANUS. 23 



tage, and enabled him to propagate his pecuh'arity. His descend- 

 ants, having a Hke advantage, have propagated tht> peciiliarit)- in a 

 constantly increasing ratio, till they art- slowly crowding the antlered 

 Deer from the region they inhabit. " ■•" 



The foregoing note contains several inaccuracies of statement, 

 and the writer's deductions are wholly erroneous. It was very justly 

 criticised by Mr. W.J. Ha)s in the Naturalist for Ma\', 1870 (pp. 

 188-189). Further remarks and discussions ma\- be found in the 

 same Journal, vol. \\\ pp. 442-443. 762-763; and vol. \\ pp. 25o- 

 25 I. The subject is now well understood, and the Hon. Judge Caton 

 has presented the facts of the case with such accuracy and concise- 

 ness that I cannot do better than transcribe his own words : — ■ 



" It has long been a prevalent opinion among hunters, and to some 

 extent has been adopted by naturalists, that a race of common Deer, 

 the adults of which have antlers without branches, have established 

 themselves in the northeastern part of the United States and in Can- 

 ada, whence they are driving out the prong-antlered bucks. 



"This is a matter of the greatest scientific importance, and I have 

 taken pains to investigate it to my satisfaction, and am entirely con- 

 vinced that it is a popular error, founded upon incomplete observa- 

 tions. The spike bucks found in the Adirondacks are all yearling 

 bucks with their first antlers. The universal testimony, so far as I 

 have been able to gather it, is. that they are smaller than the average 

 of the prong-antlered bucks, and that their spikes vary in length 



* The above passage fell under the ever-searching eye of that eminent naturalist and indefatiga- 

 ble collector of facts, the late and much lamented Charles Darwin, whose massive intellect and 

 exhaustive researches have revolutionized Natural Science and mark a new era in the progress of 

 knowledge. Mr. Darwin, misled by this account, part of which he quotes in his masterly work on 

 the Descent of Man, remarks upon it as follows : "A critic has well objected to this account by 

 asking, why, if the simple horns are now so advantageous, were the branched antlers of the parent- 

 form ever developed ? To this I can only answer by remarking, that a new mode of attack with 

 new weapons might be a great advantage, as shown by the case of the Ovis cycloceros, who thus 

 conquered a domestic ram famous for his fighting power. Though the branched antlers of a stag 

 are well adapted for fighting with his rivals, and tiiough it might be an advantage to the prong- 

 horned variety slowly to acquire long and branched horns, if he had to fight only with others of the 

 same kind, yet it jjy no means follows that branched horns would be the best fitted for conquering 

 a foe differently armed." (Descent of Man, New York, 1S75, p. 513.) 



