248 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



been discovered, and identified by Professor Nehring 

 with Ceruus canadensis the Canadian Red Deer. 

 Tcherski, the Siberian traveller, believed that Cervus 

 canadensis was identical with, or a variety of, the 

 Asiatic species of Deer, Cervus eustephanus, Cervus 

 xanthopygus, and Cervus maral. Some authorities 

 and to these-belong Mr. Lydekker think that we 

 ought perhaps to regard the whole number of Red 

 Deer-like forms as local varieties of one widely- 

 spread species. Besides the deer already referred to, 

 the following belong to this same group: Cervus 

 cashmirianuS) Cervus affinis, Cervus Roosvelti, from 

 North America, and the North African Cervus bar- 

 barus. 



The question now is, where have these varieties 

 originated ? Or, if we go to the root of the matter, 

 where is the original home of their ancestors? Con- 

 sidering that so many Cervidcz have been found in 

 French and English pliocene deposits, and that 

 remains of the Red Deer occur not only in the 

 English Forest-Bed, but have been found associated 

 with those of the Pigmy Hippopotamus in Malta, 

 it would only be reasonable to suppose that the 

 genus Cervus had originated in Europe. It might 

 also be argued with equal force that the Red Deer 

 had its birthplace in our continent. But when we 

 carefully study its present range this verdict cannot 

 be accepted. The view of the Asiatic origin of the 

 Red Deer, so ably maintained by Koppen, cor- 

 responds far better with its present distribution, 



