February 1, 1898. 



KNOWLEDGE 



45 



remarkable for the number of its points, which reach a 

 total of twenty-two ; and the almost complete abaorption 

 of the fourth tine in the terminal cup-like expansion is 

 also a feature which can scarcely fail to attract attention. 

 Two-and-twenty is, however, by no means the maximum 

 of points, as a pair of antlers from an Irish bog, formerly 



Fig. .". — Antlers of Ancient German Ret) Deer with 

 Twentv-tffo Points. 



in the collection of the late Sir Philip Egerton, but now 

 in the British Museum, carry no less than thirty. And it 

 must not be supposed that modern Scotch stags never 

 make an approach to such high numbers, a specimen shot 

 some years ago by Lord Burton exhibiting a total of 

 twenty. 



Ill spite of the individual variations alluded to, the form 

 of the fourth tine and the terminal cup alTords an easy 

 means of distinguishing the red deer antler from that of 

 the wapiti, whether American or Asiatic. In the latter 

 the fourth tine always forms a huge forwardly projecting 

 prong, much larger than either of the three tines below, and 

 situated in the same fore-and-aft plane as the tines above, 

 which are normally quite distinct from one another, and 

 thus do not form a terminal cup. Occasionally, however, such 

 a cup is formed even in wapiti antlers ; and it is said that 

 in certain districts of America such cupped antlers are by 

 no means uncommon, being apparently hereditary. Even 

 in such instances, however, an experienced eye will have 

 no difficulty in picking out the wapiti antler, for the great 

 fourth tine always retains more or less of its characteristic 

 form and size, and the whole antler is thus quite unlike 

 that of any red deer. 



It has already been said that the red deer of Eastern 

 Europe usually have the terminal cup less developed than 

 in the old giant race of the more westerly districts ; and, 

 as we proceed further to the north-east in Asia, the antlers 

 of all the nearest relatives of this species tend to become 

 simpler still. For instance, in the hangul, or Kashmir 

 stag, the number of points on each side rarely exceeds 

 six or seven ; while in the still larger shou, of the country 

 to the north of Bhutan, they are limited to five a side, no 

 trace of a terminal cup being formed. Clearly, then, the 

 group attained the culminating complexity of antler 

 development in the countries of Western Europe : and 

 whether this complexity would have gone on increasing to 

 an almost indefinite degree had not man appeared on the 

 scene, and checked the further evolution of these and most 

 other animals, may afford an interesting subject of specula- 

 tion to the curious. Equal room for speculation exists as 

 to the purpose of the great complexity exhibited by the 

 antlers of the red deer. As fighting weapons, the huge 

 but simpler horns of the shou would seem to be at least 



equally efficacious ; and to human taste it is by no means 

 certain that their severer simplicity of form is not more 

 graceful than the many-branched red deer horn. But it 

 by no means follows that human and cervine festheticism 

 run on the same lines ; and if antler development be due 

 to female preference for the stags with the finest horns, a 

 i-eni ciiusii may exist in this direction. 



All the different variations of red deer antlers alluded to 

 above are of a more or less strictly normal type, but there 

 are other variations less commonly met with which come 

 under the designation of abnormalities, or monstrosities. 

 And althoui,'h such attract much attention from sportsmen 

 and amateurs, the scientific naturalist, as a rule, has no 

 more to do with them than he has with two-headed pigs 

 or three-legged chickens. Nevertheless, there may be 

 exceptions even to this general rule, and a case in point 

 seems to be afforded by a peculiar head of a French red 

 deer in the Powerscourt collection, which forms the subject 

 of Fig. (). From this figure it will be seen that the left 

 antler is of normal form, exhibiting the first, second, and 

 third tines, and a rather small terminal cup, of which the 

 fourth tine forms a constituent part. The right antler, on 

 the contrary, is double from base to summit, and of a 

 much simpler structure, each portion consisting =;olely of 

 a long unbranched beam, with a brow-tine at the base, and 

 a simple four-pointed cup-like expansion at the crown. 

 Xow at first 

 sight there 

 might seem 

 nothing par- 

 ticularly note- 

 worthy in this, 

 for in all cases 

 of such dupli- 

 c ation the 

 divided antler 

 is of a simpler 

 type than the 

 ordinary un- 

 divided one. 

 But the curi- 

 ous feature in 

 this instance 

 is that the 

 duplicated 

 antlers are of 

 the same 

 general type as 



certain peculiar antlers of the Eastern race of the red 

 deer frequently met with Ln the Crimea and Asia Minor. 

 And although these latter are undoubtedly to a certain 

 extent abnormalities, yet from their comparative frequency 

 in the districts in question they scarcely come under the 

 designation of monstrosities. Whether the undoubted 

 resemblance existing between the duplicated French antler 

 and these abnormal Eastern specimens is anything more 

 than a coincidence, the facts at our disposal are not 

 sufficient to admit of determining. At any rate, the 

 point is of sufficient interest to merit mention. A 

 similar duplication of one antler — and, curiously enough, 

 on the same side — has been recorded in the fallow deer ; and 

 Lord Powerscourt also possesses a second French red deer 

 head in which the right antler is bifurcated for half its 

 length. Probably the circumstance that the abnormality 

 in all these three instances is on the right side is a mere 

 coincidence. It would, however, be matter of some little 

 interest if it could be ascertained whether such malfor- 

 mations are due to any injury received by the animal 

 previous to the growth of the horns. 



Fig. i>. — Antlers of Frencli. Red Deer, with 

 Duplication on the Right Side. 



