THE MAMMALS OF NEW JERSEY. 57 



variety to the barren pine region of the southern counties and the 

 northern to Sussex and Warren counties in the northwestern 

 corner of the State where it is now practically extinct. As how- 

 ever no adequate series of deer has yet been examined critically 

 from either Pennsylvania or New Jersey, it is impossible to do 

 more than guess at the respective ranges of the two forms, so 

 that we may for the present refer the New Jersey deer to the 

 true Odocoileus virginianus. The northern race, 0. v. borealis, 

 is larger, with heavier antlers and teeth, and with the gray and 

 red pelages of winter and summer more strongly contrasted, 

 while the southern or true virginianus is more or less reddish at 

 all seasons. Mr. Rhoads in his exhaustive work on the Mammals 

 of Pennsylvania and New Jersey has compiled a great deal of 

 important information concerning the present and former distri- 

 bution of deer in southern New Jersey. 



They seem to have been finally restricted to Atlantic and upper 

 Cape May counties, with perhaps a few in Burlington, Cumber- 

 land and Ocean, and in 1904 it is generally considered that they 

 were nearly extinct. Originally they were abundant all over the 

 State, but as early as 1771 they were decreasing in some sections, 

 and laws were passed making a closed season from January to 

 September, and limiting the size of traps to those used for foxes. 

 In 1832 they were still abundant throughout the pine barrens, 

 according to a writer in Doughty's Cabinet of Natural History. 



Mr. Rhoads' informants state that between 20 and 25 were 

 killed in the fall of 1898. From that date until 1903 there has 

 been a closed season, enacted with the hope of replenishing the 

 stock. 



In 1904 the southern counties were restocked with deer from 

 elsewhere. At the present time these are increasing so as to be- 

 come almost troublesome tO' farmers in the wilder parts of the 

 country. It will now be impossible to secure an unquestionably 

 native deer from this State, and it is doubtful if any specimen is 

 preserved. 



Cervus virginianus Beesley, Geol. Cape May Co., 1875, p. 

 137.— Abbott, Cook's Geol. of N. J., 1868, p. 759. 



