ATAVISM OR REVERSION. 155 



College of Surgeons, London. It is the skull of a doe 

 roedeer ; it was shot by the Earl of Egremont, near 

 Petworth, Sussex, in 1810, and presented by him to the 

 museum. The antlers, as shown in fig. 82, were 

 evidently covered with "velvet." This specimen is 

 described by Mr. E. R. Alston. 1 One is a simple 

 curved snag, nearly eight centimetres in length, with 

 a well-developed burr; the other is a mushroom- 

 shaped burr without any beam. Lord Egremont, in 



FIG. 82. A female Roedeer (Capreohis caprcea], 

 with antlers. (After Alston . ) 



a letter, expressly stated that the deer was "a very 

 old and uncommonly large female with two young 

 ones in her." Alston states that in Germany, where 

 the roedeer is more plentiful than in this country, 

 many does with antlers have been recorded, no fewer 

 than forty instances being known to Dr. Altum. Most 

 of these were barren animals, and the antlers were 

 always of a more or less abortive character, except one 



1 " Proc. Zool. Soc." 1879. 



