European Roe 247 



THE EUROPEAN ROE 



[Caprcolus vulgaris) 

 (Plate IV. Fig. 7) 



The roe, or roebuck, is the typical representative of a small and easily 

 recognised group of deer which, although exclusively confined to Western, 

 Central, and Northern Asia, present a remarkable approximation in the 

 form of their antlers, and likewise in the structure of the skeleton of the 

 lower part of their fore-limbs, to the American deer of the genus Ma-zama. 

 In place of giving off a forwardly-inclined brow-tine a short distance above 

 the burr, the antler of a roe remains undivided for a considerable space, 

 after which it splits in a V-shaped fork ; the hinder and larger prong of 

 this main fork again dividing, thus producing three points to each antler, 

 which may be regarded as the normal and characteristic number for the 

 group. Further subdivision and flattening ot the tines of the hinder prong 

 ot the main fork may, however, occur, so as to produce a somewhat more 

 complex antler, although the tripartite type is even then retained to a greater 

 or less degree. A further peculiarity ot roe antlers is the great rugosity of 

 the beam, from which project a number of small irregular " tags " of bone 

 on all sides ; these being more developed in the Siberian than in the 

 European species. 



It should be noticed that both the first and second forks of a roe's 

 antler form a distinct V ; this feature, together with the long interval 

 between the first fork and the burr, enabling these antlers to be readily 

 distinguished from those of the South American pampas deer, which are 

 likewise three-tined. 



Another distinctive peculiarity of the roes is the total absence ot a tail ; 

 this feature and the form of the antlers being amply sufficient to enable 



