334 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



tics of the antlers of the Red Deer in which a difference may, be 

 observed from those of our Elk, but the more the subject is 

 studied the more these differences disappear. 



On page 333 I present the figure of a Red Deer in the Zoolog- 

 ical Gardens in Berlin, drawn from life, by the same artist who 

 drew the reindeer. By comparing it with the Wapiti (awte, p. 

 76), their likeness will be seen; and by comparing its antlers and 

 the antlers of the Red Deer(aw?e, pp. 214, 332), with the common 

 and crown antlers of our Elk Qante, p. 210), it will be readily seen 

 how peculiar and yet how alike they are. While the general 

 figures of these antlers are quite unlike those of any other mem- 

 ber of the family, they are strictly alike in design, though in 

 detail there are some differences, which are frequent though not 

 universal. The first to be noticed is that the bez-tine is much 

 shorter than the brow or the royal tine on the Red Deer, while 

 on our Elk it is usually about the same length as the brow-tine, 

 and the royal is usually shorter than either ; still this is not 

 universally the case, and formerly these peculiarities were less 

 observable in both than now. This is manifest from an examina- 

 tion of a great number of fossil antlers found in both countries. 

 And this is true of another characteristic as well. It is now ex- 

 ceedingly rare to find the snag on the upper side of the brow- 

 antler of the Red Deer. Of all that I examined in Europe, I 

 found it well developed only on one pair of antlers of the present 

 day, and they were from Bohemia, and would have been taken 

 at once by any naturalist to have come from America, and yet 

 we have seen that this snag is developed in about five per cent. 

 in this country. 



The crown antler, which is shown in the illustrations, is very 

 common in Europe, but is very rare in this country ; and until 

 quite lately I had no evidence of its existence here; but I am now 

 enabled to illustrate a pair of antlers from an American Elk from 

 the Rocky Mountains, both of which are crown antlers, as well 

 developed as is often met with in Europe (^(mte, p. 210). 



The fossil antlers found in Europe show a much larger propor- 

 tion with the snag on the brow-antler, and a less proportion of 

 crown antlers than are grown there at the present day, while 

 these antlers are much larger and about the size of our Elk 

 antlers. 



If we should take all the fossil antlers of this animal which I 

 have examined in Europe and America, and arrange them to- 

 gether promiscuously, I at least should have difficulty in cor- 



