Heads and Horn ft 



main beams are slender, measuring only 5'/i> inches in circumference above the 

 brow tine. The extreme outside spread is 39'/t> incht , niiJ the |. mils are 

 10+11. 



In the National Collection the round-horned deer are strongly repre- 

 sented. While the common and easily-accessible species have not as yet been 

 diligently sought, and several of them are to-day absent, in the rare and little 

 known species the collection is reasonably well provided. It is possible to men- 

 tion here only those of special scientific interest, and this will be done without 

 reference to their zoological sequence. 



Of all deer antlers, the rarest and the most eagerly sought by those who 

 collect on zoological lines are those of the well-nigh extinct Pere David's Deer, 

 formerly of China, but now of zoological gardens only. There are to-day pre- 

 cisely twenty-eight living specimens between Elaphurus davidianus (Plate 

 VIII, Fig. 10), and total extinction. The herd of about two hundred head 

 formerly maintained in the Imperial Park south of Pekin was totally de- 

 stroyed during the Boxer war. In China, not even one living specimen exists 

 to-day; but in Japan there are three or four individuals. On three voyages 

 Captain Thomas Golding searched diligently through the seaports of China, 

 distributing pictures, but failed to find even one pair of antlers. Judging \>\ 

 one of the rare occasions wherein a pair of antlers of David's Deer have 

 changed hands for a definite consideration, the pair now contained in the 

 nucleus collection is worth $400. The only other pair in America is in the col- 

 lection of Mr. Robert Gilfort, where they are beyond the reach of purchase 

 money. 



David's Deer, formerly a habitant of northern Manchuria, is a queer look- 

 ing animal. It is about the size of the English red deer. It has a long tail, and 

 its antlers are built in reverse order. The main beam quickly bifurcates into a 

 single tall stem which grows nearly upright, and another strong beam which 

 thrusts out toward the front, and again bifurcates, half way out, into two long 

 and strong tines, like a wooden pitchfork. The length of the main beam is 31 

 inches, and its circumference above the burr is 6 inches. Each antler has three 

 points. In Mr. Ward's list of only eleven recorded pairs of antlers of this 

 species, the pair now transferred to the National Collection is number three. 

 Five of the eleven pairs are in the collection of the Duke of Bedford. 



Of the horns of large and important species of round-horned deer, the 

 next in rarity is unquestionably Schomburgk's Deer (Plate VIII, Fig. 3), of 

 northern Siam. Mr. Ward records only seven specimens, and had mine been 



