Red Deer 215 



in the various species of wild goats and sheep, and probably also in most 

 or all of the antelopes. 



With regard to deer, there are unfortunately no definite data upon 

 which to 2:0 ; but, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, it 

 would seem probable that the dates of appearance ot the difterent teeth 

 are approximately the same as in the sheep and the chamois. And 

 it may accordingly be provisionally considered that when a deer has 

 attained its complete series of permanent teeth it is in its fitth year. As 

 the antlers of many species of deer afford independent evidence of the age 

 of the individual to which they pertain, an opportunity is, however, 

 afforded of checking the result arrived at by an examination ot the teeth. 

 And any sportsmen who may happen to be interested in the matter 

 would do a service to science if he would take the trouble to ascertain the 

 age, as indicated by the antlers, of any stag he may kill, and at the same 

 time to determine in what stage ot development are its teeth. 



Although occurrin^j; here and there in the less settled and wilder dis- 

 tricts over the greater part of the rest of Europe, either in the torm of the 

 typical or the Caspian race, it is not a little remarkable that the red deer 

 is totally unknown at the present day in Eastern Russia, except in the pro- 

 vince of Nijni Novgorod. The subject has been very carefully worked out in 

 a paper by Dr. E. Biichner, entitled " Bemerkungen ueber die Verbreitung 

 der Edelhirsches im ostlichen Russland," published at St. Petersburg in 

 1896.' Although Koeppen, writing in 1883, quotes certain writers to 

 prove the existence of the red deer (or maral) in the province of Orenburg 

 about 1762, and in the Southern Urals at a much later date. Dr. Biichner 

 is of opinion that, at the present day, the animal is quite unknown not 

 only in those districts, but also throughout almost the entire extent ot the 

 Ural chain. He admits, however, its occurrence in Orenburg during the 

 eighteenth century, and thinks that a few individuals may possibly still 



1 Annuaire Mus. Zoo/, de F Acad, de St. Petersbourg, 1896, pp. 387-399. 



