NORTHERN RANGE OF THE FALLOW DEER. 89 
It seems also to have occurred in Switzerland and in England, as 
well as in Moravia and Lower Austria. 
2. Within historic times it inhabited Egypt (tombs of Beni- 
Hassan) and Assyria; and, in the latter part of the middle ages, 
Switzerland and Alsace. 
3. It is still found in a wild state in Asia Minor, North Africa, 
Sardinia, and apparently in parts of Spain and Greece, and perhaps 
still in the Cevennes and the Alps of Dauphiné. 
4. The size and strength of the antlers, as well as the size 
of the skull, have in course of time degenerated. The skull 
and antlers of existing Fallow Deer are smaller than those of 
prehistoric times. 
ON THE NORTHERN RANGE OF THE FALLOW DEER 
IN EUROPE. 
By W. Boyp Dawsrms, M.A., F.R.S.* 
In the interesting essay by Dr. Jeitteles many cases of the 
reputed discovery of the remains of the Fallow Deer are collected 
together to prove that the animal is indigenous in Northern Europe, 
and not imported from the south, as heretofore has been supposed 
by many able naturalists, such as Blasius, Steenstrup, Riitimeyer, 
the late Prof. Ed. Lartet, and others. These cases are accepted 
by Dr. Sclater without criticism, and are deemed by him to place 
the importation theory, as it may be termed, in the category of 
“ancient fables.” The question, however, seems to me, after many 
years’ study of the fossil and recent Cervide of this country and 
of France, a very difficult one, not to be decided off-hand, and 
certainly not without a strict analysis of the value of evidence such 
as that recorded by Dr. Jeitteles, whose method and facts appear 
to be equally in error. 
The identification of fragments of antlers is one of the most 
difficult tasks which a naturalist can take in hand, and where there 
are several species of deer associated together in the same deposit, 
it is sometimes impossible to assign a given fragment to its rightful 
owner. For example, in the forest beds of Norfolk and Suffolk, 
and in the Pleiocenes of the Continent, there is a vast number of 
antlers which are ownerless, and which have completely baffled 
* Reprinted from ‘ Nature,’ December 10th, 1874. 
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