ATAVISM OR REVERSION. 155 
College of Surgeons, London. It is the skull of a doe 
roedeer; it was shot by the Earl of Egremont, near 
Petworth, Sussex, in 1810, and presented by him to the 
museum. The antlers, as shown in fig, 82, were 
evicently covered with “velvet.” This specimen is 
described by Mr. E. R. Alston.t One is a simple 
curved snag, nearly eight centimetres in length, with 
a well-developed burr; the other is a mushroom- 
shaped burr without any beam. Lord Egremont, in 
FIG, 82,—A female Roedeer (Cafreolus caprea), 
with antlers. (After Alston.) 
a letter, expressly stated that the deer was “a very 
old and uncommonly large female with two young 
ones in her.” Alston states that in Germany, where 
the roedeer is more plentiful than in this country, 
many does with antlers have been recorded, no fewer 
than forty instances being known to Dr. Altum. Most 
of these were barren animals, and the antlers were 
always of a more or less abortive character, except one 
' Eroc, Zool, Soc:’* “1879; 
