The National Collection 



ifference which have as yet been discovered, save that they are somewhat 

 mailer than the largest antlers of the Genus canadensis. The Altai and the 

 Wyoming species are seven thousand miles apart, the latter finding its farthest 

 north on Vancouver Island, and the twin-like relationship between the two 

 species or whatever their exact status may be is one of the most surprising 

 facts connected with the genus Cercus. It appears absolutely certain that the 

 ancestors of the American Elk came hither from western Mongolia, via 

 Bering Strait. After the migration the chain parted in the middle, and the two 

 groups drifted seven thousand miles apart. By a queer turn of fortune, the 

 Russo-Japanese storm-cloud, when just about to burst, blew 7 to me for this col- 

 lection, from Vladivostok, a pair of antlers which represent a small intermedi- 

 ate species, Luehdorf 's Manchurian Wapiti. Considering its position midway 

 between the two great Wapiti of Central Asia and the United States, they 

 are very interesting and valuable. 



The measurements of the three specimens referred to above surely will in- 

 terest those who are specially interested in the Wapiti group : 



Altai Wyoming Luehdorf's 



Wapiti* Wapiti Wapiti 



Length on outside curve 53 58 38V2 



Circumference above burr 9 10 7% 



Tines 6+8 7+7 6+6 



The collection contains horns varying from good to fine of the Indian 

 Sambar, Barasinga Deer (Plate VIII, Fig. 6), Javan Rusa, Siberian 

 Roe (Plate VIII, Fig. 2), Hog Deer (Plate VIII, Fig. 4), Luzon Sambar 

 Deer (Plate VIII, Fig. 5), Sika of Japan, a number from Mexico and Cen- 

 tral America, and, last and least of all branched antlers, a pair from the rare 

 Chilian Guemal, only SVs inches in length. A few of the above are so much 

 below first-class size that they must be replaced by larger and more representa- 

 tive specimens just as soon as better specimens become available. A list of the 

 species represented in the collection transferred to the Zoological Society is ap- 

 pended hereunto. 



NEW YORK ZOOLOGICAL PARK, 

 FEBRUARY 1, 1907. 



*No. 27, in Mr. Rowland Ward's list of 76. See " Records of Big Game," fifth edition, 1906, page 55. 



