74 SEXUAL DIMORPHISM 



The theory of sexual selection does not attempt to explain this 

 annual recrescence of the antlers. That theory is based on 

 the existence of individual differences or variations, but these 

 differences do not generally or necessarily take the form of 

 annually repeated outgrowths. We cannot be content, there- 

 fore, with the theory that the stags with the finest horns 

 conquered their rivals and left most progeny ; we must 

 inquire why the antlers are shed and reproduced every 

 year. 



As the starting-point of this inquiry we take the well- 

 known fact of the correspondence between the growth of the 

 antler and the activity of the sexual organs. The sexual 

 organs in the stag are only active during a certain portion of 

 the year, the rutting season, which in the red deer, Cervus 

 elaphus, lasts from September or October to the beginning of 

 December. At this time the antlers are completely de- 

 veloped, and have shed their covering of vascular skin or 

 "velvet." The stags during this season are in a constant 

 state of sexual excitement, and each has to fight continually 

 with rival stags for possession of the females. The fighting 

 weapons are the antlers, which are crossed and interlocked 

 and pushed against one another, until one of the combatants 

 is exhausted. After December the fighting and pairing 

 ceases, the stags turn their attention to feeding, and begin 

 to herd peacefully together apart from the hinds. Soon 

 after this the antlers are shed. According to the Eev. 

 H. A. Macpherson this takes place in Britain usually in 

 April, but a Highland stag has been known to drop his 

 antlers as early as December, and in the Lake District 

 of Cumberland some immature animals carry them until 

 May. 1 



After the old antlers are shed, the new soon commence to 

 grow out again from the stumps or pedicles. The growth is 



1 The Bed Beer, Fur and Feather Series, Longmans and Co., 1896. 



