FALLOW DEER, - . .$ 



I what steps they have been developed from an 

 early common ruminating ancestor ; and this 

 pedigree M. Gaudry has worked out for us in 

 detail as admirably as Professor Huxley has 

 worked out the genealogy of the horse, and 

 as Dr. Mivart has worked out that of the 

 cat 



The very earliest ruminants whose re- 

 mains we meet with in the lower tertiary 

 strata were all hornless. They resembled in 

 this respect a few abnormal living kinds, such 

 as the camels, the llamas, and the alpacas, 

 though, of course, these kinds are far more 

 specialised in other ways than were their 

 primitive ruminant ancestors. But as time 

 went on, the wager of battle among the males, 

 common to so many races of mammals, pro- 

 duced singular results upon the whole rumi- 

 nating tribe. The nature of their food 

 prevented them for the most part from 

 fighting with their teeth, like carnivores, so 

 they took to butting with their heads instead. 

 Thus, either by accidental variations, as Mr. 



-^W^ni 



