Game Animals of India, etc. 



They are smooth and flattened, with the relatively long 

 brow-tine springing from the beam almost at right 

 angles. Above the point where this tine is given off 

 the beam remains undivided for about half the length 

 of the antler, when it divides into a regular fork, both 

 branches of which are of equal calibre, and each usually 

 simply forked, although the outer branch may exceed 

 the inner one in length, and carry three or more tines. 

 Small supplemental snags not unfrequently occur on 

 the upper surface of the brow-tine, but that tine never 

 forks, while "sports" at its junction with the beam 

 are seldom seen. 



Such is the typical form of antler characteristic of 

 the swamp-deer, but among a series of heads obtained 

 by Major C. B. Wood in 1899 in the Central Provinces, 

 the one shown in fig. 46 departs wiciely from this 

 type, while the others, although less markedly abnormal, 

 exhibit a variation in the same direction. In these 

 antlers the long and much-curved brow-tine arises at 

 more than a right angle from the beam, which is also 

 much curved ; so that a little more and the two would 

 form a continuous curve. The forking of the beam 

 likewise occurs at a point higher up than usual, and 

 the inner or posterior branch of the fork is thinner 

 and shorter than the outer or anterior branch, which 

 curves forward in continuation of the line of the beam, 

 and gives off two snags from its sharp hind or upper 

 surface, serially continuous with the small hind branch 

 of the main fork. In fact, the whole antler (especially 

 on the left side, where the hind branch of the main 

 fork is not subdivided) is in many respects more like 

 that of one race of the thamin than of a typical swamp- 

 deer, this being especially shown by the nearly 

 cylindrical shaft of the beam. If all swamp-deer from 

 the Central Provinces presented this type of antler, 

 they would be entitled to rank as a distinct local race, 

 but other specimens obtained by Major Wood indicate 

 that this is not the case, although they depart to a 



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