DEERINGIA DEILEPHILA. 



269 



antler projecting from the beam of the horn imme- 

 diately over the burr, which antler is enlarged towards 

 its extremity in all the specimens, and in some of them 

 it is forked. It is understood that these deer in so 

 far resemble the reindeer as that both sexes were fur- 

 nished with horns, and horns of immense dimensions ; 

 the entire length of some of them, including the por- 

 tion of the cranium between, being not less than ten 

 feet. But though the horns are of this immense size, 

 it does not appear that the animals themselves have 

 been proportionally large ; for the bones of the head 

 are not larger than those of a full-grown stag. This 

 species appears to have been very numerous in Ire- 

 land, three heads having been found in a single acre; 

 and Molyneux mentions that in less than twenty 

 years thirty had been picked up. These animals have 

 been contemporary with the fossil elephant, which is 

 now extinct as a living inhabitant of Europe ; and 

 though they are more abundant in Ireland than any- 

 where else, they are by no means confined to that 

 island ; they have been, however, found in the Isle of 

 Man, and several parts of Great Britain, in France, 

 on the banks of the Nile, and in the valley of the Po ; 

 and there is no doubt that proper research would find 

 them in many other parts of Europe ; so that we have 

 every reason to conclude that at some very remote 

 period of history, when the state of the country was 

 very different from what it is now, they were very 

 generally and abundantly distributed. 



Another fossil species is the fallow-deer of Scania, 

 in Sweden, mentioned in the memoirs of the academy 

 of Stockholm, for 1802. These bones, which were 

 found in a fresh water deposit, arc much larger than 

 those of the existing fallow-deer ; and yet they ditier 

 so much from the horns of the reindeer that they can- 

 not be referred loan accidental variety of that species. 

 They have a single brow antler upon each horn, 

 placed on the beam, between four and five inches 

 above the burr, but small and perfectly simple, and 

 thus totally different from the antlers of reindeer, 

 while the palms of them are vastly larger than those 

 of the horns of fallow-deer. 



In the south-west of France there are found the 

 remains of a deer bearing very considerable resem- 

 blance to those of the reindeer of the present day, but 

 the animal itself has been considerably smaller, not 

 exceeding the common roebuck. These remains are 

 found in the sands of Etampes, and also in caves, at 

 Breugens in the department of the Lot, at which 

 latter place they are mingled with the bones of the 

 horse, the rhinoceros, and various other animals. The 

 horns stand more erect than those of the reindeer ; 

 and though there are several points of resemblance, 

 there is question that the owners of these remains 

 have belonged, if not to a different species, at least to 

 different variety, from the common rein-deer. The 

 existence of those remains in the same charnel-house 

 with the bones of the rhinoceros, is a singular and 

 somewhat puzzling point in the natural history of our 

 globe. The reindeer is now found only within the 

 arctic circle ; and the rhinoceros only in tropical 

 countries. The fact of their remains being found to- 

 gether, leaves no doubt that they have been co-inha- 

 bitants of the temperate parts of Europe. Thus the 

 geologists are put upon the horns of a dilemma ; be- 

 cause neither the assumption that Europe was once 

 colder than it is now, nor that it was once warmer, 

 will meet this case, in as much as, so far as our 

 present knowledge extends, we have the remains 



of the polar animal and the tropical in the same 

 grave. 



In the fresh water formation of calcareous matter at 

 Montabuzard, there are found the remains of a species 

 of roebuck, together with two species of lophesdon, 

 and one of mastodon, both of which are now extinct, 

 in all parts of the world ; so that we know nothing of 

 the kind of country which was adapted to their habits. 

 This fossil species resembles, in many respects, the 

 deer of the Oriental islands, and more especially the 

 deer of Timor, which is the most remote from Europe 

 in its habitat of any with which we are acquainted. 



On the deposits near the northern shore of the 

 Mediterranean, there are also various species of deer, 

 some of which resemble the deer of the eastern islands ; 

 and, what is singular, their remains are mingled with 

 those of timers and panthers, which are now natives of 

 warm countries only, as well as with those of the Alpine 

 hare, which are now found living in only the coldest 

 regions of the world. These particulars are highly 

 curious ; but they set all our theories at defiance, and 

 render it impossible to say probably what may have 

 been the condition of Europe at some former period 

 of its history. 



DEERINGIA (R. Brown). A genus of East 

 Indian biennial herbs, belonging to the natural order 

 Ainaranlhacca;, and nearly related to the Cclosia or 

 cockscomb. 



DEILEPHILA (Ochsenheimer). A genus of 

 lepidopterous insects, belonging to the section Cre- 

 piiscularia, and family Sphmgidcs, or hawk moths, 

 having the wings entire and acute, the spiral tongue 

 rather elongated, and the antenna: short, and gradually 

 hut distinctly clubbed in the males. These insects 

 have much the appearance of the insects to which the 

 genus Sphinx is restricted by recent authors, but the 

 species are generally smaller, and more robust in 

 appearance, owing to the comparative shortness of 

 the abdomen. Mr. Stephens divides the genus " into 

 two sections, corresponding with their diversities of 

 habit and structure ; the larva; of the second section 

 have the power of elongating or contracting the 

 anterior portions of their body, thence called elephant 

 sphinxes a term which has been applied to all the 

 species, but improperly." In addition to the external 

 characters of the perfect insects, by which these 

 two sections are distinguished, it may be added, that 

 in the first of them, the caterpillar is completely 

 covered with minute pale spots upon a dark ground, 

 its anterior segments are not capable of being pro- 

 truded to a considerable distance, and the horn upon 

 the extremity of its back is rough, and the chrysalis is 

 superficially buried ; whereas, in the second section, 

 the caterpillars are not minutely spotted, a large eye- 

 like spot appearing on some of the front segments, 

 which possess a very considerable power of pro- 

 trusion ; the horn upon the back is smooth, and the 

 chrysalis enclosed in a cocoon of leaves on the 

 ground. There are eight species of this fine and 

 handsome genus indicated by authors as natives of 

 this country, but two at least of them appear to 

 have been species introduced with imported plants. 

 Of these the D. celerio, which feeds upon the vine, 

 has been the subject of much controversy amongst 

 entomologists, amongst whom Mr. Stephens (Brit. 

 Ent. vol. i. p. 128.) who contends against, and a 

 writer in a late number of the Magazine of Natural 

 History, who argues in support of their introduction 

 as reafinhabitants of this country, may be especially 



