44 



KNOWLEDGE 



[Febbuarv 1, 1898. 



Fig. 3. 



-Antlers of Ancient German Ked Uc 

 inirchascd in Berlin in 1S63. 



of the antler is less distinctly cupped and carries fewer 

 points. Still, it is very difficult in many instances to dis- 

 tinguish the antlers of the two races, which, in certain 

 districts of the Austrian Empire, probably pass imper- 

 ceptibly into one another. 



. This inferior development of modern red deer antlers 

 being then a well-ascertained fact, it is a matter of con- 

 gratulation that there exist a few collections where the 



trophies of the 

 /f \\ ancient giants 



i Ml i \S\. 1 have been 



vT/y \^ i ^'Ccumulated 



■■"" \ m # ^jj^ preserved 



almost from 

 time i m • 

 memorial, or 

 where judici- 

 ous purchase 

 has assembled 

 a series which 

 it would be 

 almost, if not 

 quite, impossi- 

 ble to rival at 

 the present 

 day. Ofcollec- 

 tioDS of the 

 former kind, 

 by far the 

 finest is the 

 one belonging 

 to His Majesty 

 the King of 

 Saxony, at the old hunting schloss of Moritzburg, near 

 Dresden. Of the latter type, so far as the United 

 Kingdom is concerned, the celebrated collection of Viscount 

 Powerscourt, already mentioned, is far and away ahead of 

 all others. By the kindness of the owner, the present 

 writer has been favoured with photographs of a series of the 

 finest specimens in this collection, from among which a few 

 have been selected to illustrate the present article. 



From the great individual variation displayed in a large 

 series, the uninitiated often find considerable difficulty in 

 distinguishing the antlers of red deer (including under 

 this term the different races thereof) from those of the 

 allied species. Nevertheless, after some practice, this is a 

 comparatively easy matter ; and the subject is one of 

 considerable interest, on account of showmg, in spite of 

 great individual variation, the adherence to one distinctive 

 type of structure. The red deer and its allies form a 

 small and well-defined group of the genus Cenm^, among 

 which are included the wapitis of North America and 

 Central and North-Eastern Asia, the hangul of Kashmir 

 and Yarkand, and the great shou of the district lying to 

 the northward of Bhutan. In all these deer the minimum 

 number of tines to each antler is five, but there may be 

 as many as twelve, or even more. A very general and 

 especial peculiarity of the group is the presence of two 

 tines on each side in close proximity to the forehead. The 

 presence of these two tines is, indeed, as a normal feature, 

 limited to the members of this group, and even among 

 them it is by no means invariably constant. There is, 

 for instance, a Tibetan species, known as Thorold s stag, in 

 which the second is wanting, and the so-called brow-tine 

 alone remains in this part of the antler. The presence of 

 this second tine in the red deer group is clearly, then, 

 what naturalists term a specialized feature of comparatively 

 recent acquisition. And further testimony in favour of this 

 is afforded by the circumstance that even in well-developed 



heads this tine is frequently much smaller on one side than 

 on the other. This is shown in Fig. 2, where the second tine 

 on the right side is scarcely more than half the length of its 

 fellow on the left. Even more significant is the fact that in 

 heads which are degenerating — or, as sportsmen say," going 

 back "—this tine is the first to disappear, or to diminish in 

 size. An excellent example of this is afforded by the head 

 represented in Fig. 1, where it is completely wanting on 

 the right side, and is small and rudimentary on the left. 

 Indeed, among Scotch deer the second tine is very 

 frequently wanting even during the prime of life, thus 

 affording further evidence of the decadence of that stock. 

 It is also wanting in the small island race of Corsica and 

 Sardinia, as it is very frequently in the larger race 

 inhabiting the North of Africa and Spain. The red deer 

 being typically a northern species, the degeneracy in the 

 latter instance is probably due to the warmer and therefore 

 less suitable climate. 



At some distance above the second is given ofi' a large 

 third tine, which is quite distinct from those above it. In 

 fuUy developed heads of the red deer of Western Europe, 

 as exemplified by Figs. 2 ;',nd 3, the beam of the antler 

 continues undivided for an interval somewhat exceeding 

 the one between the second and third tines, after which it 

 expands to form a more or less distinctly defined cup 

 whose margins are bordered by a variable number of snags 

 or tines of different length. In heads of this type it is 

 scarcely possible to distinguish a separate fotirth tine. 

 Nevertheless, in heads where the cuppin;.' is less con- 

 spicuously developed, the fourth tine exists as a separate 

 portion of the antler, the cuppin;,' being then confined to 

 the termination of the beam above. This type of antler is 

 shown by the German head depicted in Fig. i ; and it may 

 be noted that in the Carpathian race of the species it is 

 common to find the fourth tine remaining more or less 

 distinct, as it does in the degenerate modern Scotch deer. 

 The shape of the cupping varies considerably in different 

 individuals, as may be seen by comparing the old Ger- 

 man head represented in Fig. 3 with the one from an 



Fig. 1. — Antlers of German Red Deer with Twenty Points. 



Irish bog which forms the subject of Fig. 2 ; the former 

 showing a total of eighteen and the latter of nineteen 

 points. Considerable individual diversity also exists with 

 regard to the angle at which the antlers are set on the 

 forehead. For instance, in Fig. 2 they are directed much 

 upwardly, and this is still more markedly the case with 

 Fig. 3 ; but as the latter specimen consists of separate 

 antlers affixed to an artificial head, the degree of inclina- 

 tion is not altogether to be depended on. The subject of 

 Fig. 5, which is also an ancient German head, is, however, 

 in its original condition, and here it will be noted that the 

 degree of divergence is very great. This head, too, is 



