MEGACEROS HIBERNICUS 457 



The first (fig. 184) which apparently corresponds with 

 the state of the antlers at the fourth year in the Fallow- 

 deer,* is five feet in length, and fourteen inches across the 

 palm : it presents a simple cylindrical and pointed brow- 

 antler (br) ; a short and simple bezantler {lz) ; the hind 

 branch almost straight, and only two long branches from the 

 fore-part of the palm, which terminates in three short 

 straight obtuse points, the middle being the longest. The 

 second figure (fig. 185) shows an expansion and flattening 

 of the brow-antler, an elongation of the bezantler and of the 

 anterior branches of the palm, and the prolongation of the 

 three terminal points into branches : the total number of 

 branches being eight. The length of the antler, following 

 the curve, is six feet ; the greatest breadth of the palm 

 fifteen inches. This form of antler corresponds with that 

 at the fifth year in the Fallow-deer. In the third figure, 

 (fig. 186,) the brow-antler is expanded and bifurcate ; the 

 bezantler is likewise expanded and divided into two points, 

 but this is a very rare variety. It is shown on the right 

 side in a pair of antlers in the Hunteriau Museum, and in 

 both antlers of the remarkably fine skeleton in the Museum 

 of the Royal Dublin Society. The palm is much increased 

 in breadth and sends off six branches besides the posterior 

 one, the number of points in this antler being eleven. The 

 length of the antler following its curve, is seven feet ; the 

 breadth of the palm thirty inches. Such an antler would 

 indicate the Megaceros to have reached the prime of its 

 age, like the ' crowned Hart "" of the seventh or eighth 

 year. The antlers of the Megaceros, which retain the 

 same expanse of palm with shorter branches, especially the 

 terminal ones, have probably belonged to older animals 

 when the reproductive force was on the decline. 



* ' Bell's Quadrupeds,' p. 404, the middle figure. 



