250 HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN FAUNA. 



separated from the mainland for a considerable time. 

 Finally, the original home of a species, as we have 

 learned, generally corresponds with the centre of its 

 geographical range, and this lies in the case of the 

 Red Deer in Central Asia. 



One of the highest authorities on the deer family, 

 Sir Victor Brooke, also was of opinion that the 

 Cervida originated in Asia, and from there spread 

 east and west Of the two divisions into which true 

 deer are divided, viz., the Plesiometacarpalia and 

 the Telemetacarpalia, the former is almost confined to 

 the Old and the latter to the New World. The only 

 North American species belonging to the first 

 division is the Canadian Red Deer, which fact 

 clearly indicates its recent immigration to that 

 continent. 



There were probably two distinct migrations of 

 the Red Deer into Europe. An older one coming 

 from Asia Minor into Greece, which stocked Sardinia, 

 Corsica, Malta, and North Africa in the first place, 

 when these were still connected with one another. 

 This same migration likewise affected western con- 

 tinental Europe, the Irish Red Deer being probably 

 the descendant of this very ancient stock. The 

 latter entered the island when it was still part of the 

 Continent. The later migration of a larger form came 

 from Siberia and spread mainly over Eastern and 

 Central Europe, but it appears that it also reached 

 England, although there is no evidence of any of 

 these Siberian deer having ever inhabited Ireland. 



