CHAP, iv.] DEVELOPMENT OF ANTLERS IN DEER. 89 



antlers in the living deer, which begin with a simple 

 point, and increase the number of tynes until their 

 limit is reached. It is obvious, from the progressive 

 diminution in size and complexity of the antlers in 

 tracing them back from the Pleiocenes into the mid 

 Meiocenes of Europe, that in the latter period we are 

 approaching the zero of antler development. In the 

 lower Meiocenes I have failed to meet with evidence 

 that the deer possessed any antlers. 



It is also a point of singular interest to observe that 

 the nearest living analogue of the Meiocene deer is the 

 muntjak, now only found in Asia along with the tapir. 

 Cervus dicroceros also co-existed with that animal in 

 the upper Meiocene forests of Germany. With one 

 exception, all the Pleiocene deer which can be brought 

 into relation with living forms are closely allied to the 

 Axes, Eusse, or others, which also are dwellers in the 

 Oriental region. They belong to a fauna now met with 

 only in the forests of India, China, Japan, and the Malay 

 Archipelago. The exception is the Cervus cusanus, 

 which possessed an antler not very far removed from that 

 of the roe, an animal now so widely spread over Europe 

 and northern and central Asia. I should infer from this 

 that the Oriental region has offered a secure place of 

 refuge to the Axeidce, so abundant in the Pleiocenes of 

 France and Italy, from those changes in their environ- 

 ment which compelled them to retreat from Europe. 

 The fact of the presence, in this quarter of the world, of 

 a group of animals now met with only in warm regions, 

 confirms the conclusions as to the warm climate of 

 Pleiocene Europe, which M. de Saporta has recently 

 arrived at from a study of the vegetation. 



