DEER. 



36S 



well as on the Continent, where its range extends from Italy in the south to Russia 

 in the north. That the Irish deer lived within the human period is proved by the 

 occurrence of its remains in association with stone implements. It has, indeed, 

 been considered that the word Schelk, which occurs in the Nibelungenlied of the 

 13th century, refers to the Irish deer, but Prof. Nehring is of opinion that it more 

 probably means either an elk or a wild stallion. 



The Irish deer differs considerably from the fallow deer in the form and 

 direction of its antlers, but a connecting link between them is found in Ruffs 



ANTLERS OF THE IKISH deer. (From Nehring.) 



deer (G. ruffi,), from the superficial deposits of Germany, which was of somewhat 

 inferior dimensions to the former. In Ruff's deer the antlers are directed upwards 

 and outwards nearly after the fashion obtaining in the fallow deer, while the plane 

 of the palmated portion is placed in the same longitudinal direction as in the latter. 

 Moreover, the terminal snags are shorter and inclined more inwardly than in the 

 Irish deer, but the flattened and expanded form of the brow-tine indicates a closer 

 connection with the latter. 



The Mttntjacs. 



Genus Cervulus. 



The small Asiatic deer, commonly known as muntjacs, differ so decidedly from 

 all those hitherto noticed that they are referred to a distinct genus. They are 

 distinguished from all the members of the genus Cervus by their short, simple, two- 

 tined antlers being mounted on pedicles of the skull, which are as long or longer 

 than the antlers themselves, and diverge from the middle line of the lower part of 

 the forehead, where they commence as rib-like bars. From this feature these 

 animals are often spoken of as rib-faced deer. The brow-tine of the antlers is short 

 and directed upwards, while the tip of the undivided beam is more or less inclined 

 inwards. The skull has a very large depression for the reception of the gland 

 below the eye ; and the bucks are furnished with long projecting tusks in the upper 

 jaw. The lateral toes are peculiar in that they consist of only the hoofs, without 

 any trace of the bones of the digits themselves. 



