NORTHERN RANGE OF THE FALLOW DEER. 93 
variation of antler. Till such an antler be found it is better to keep 
the animals apart in classification. And even if they be viewed as 
belonging to one species, they have only been met with in pleisto- 
cene deposits in this country and in France, and they may reason- 
ably be taken as visitors from the south, such as the contemporary 
Hippopotami. In any case, I would submit that they do not afford 
satisfactory grounds for believing with Dr. Jeitteles that the present 
distribution of the Fallow Deer in Northern and Central Europe 
by the hand of man is “an ancient fable.” It is undoubtedly an 
ancient belief, and it is one which can be proved to some extent 
to be true by an appeal to the records of history. 
To enter into the question of the introduction of Fallow Deer 
into Northern Europe would far outleap the limits of an article. 
A reference to Lenz’s ‘Zoologie der Alten, and to Neckham’s 
‘Natural History,’ will show to what an exteut the wealthy Romans 
and medieval barons were in the habit of importing wild and rare 
animals for the chase, as well as for the sake of mere curiosity. 
Sir Victor Brooke, writing “on the existence of the Fallow Deer 
in England during pleistocene times” (‘ Nature,’ 14th Jan. 1875), 
has shown pretty conclusively that the species called Cervus 
Brownti, which was founded by Prof. Boyd Dawkins (Quart. Geol. 
Journ., 1868, p. 514) upon some abnormal antlers dug up at Clacton 
in Essex,* is identical with Cervus dama, and that ‘‘ under the 
former title the fact of the existence of the Fallow Deer in England 
during the pleistocene period lies in some degree obscured.” 
In this determination Prof. Boyd Dawkins himself has since 
expressed his concurrence (‘ Nature, 2Ist Jan. 1875), remarking 
that Sir Victor Brooke’s essay leaves no room for doubting that 
“ the antlers named in the books Cervus Brownii and C. somonensis 
really belong to a variety of the living Fallow Deer,” and he thanks 
the author “for having brought forward evidence on the point 
which is not presented by any of the large series known to me in 
the British and Continental Museums, and without which I could 
not venture to identify the fossil with the living form. He has sup- 
plied the missing link hitherto sought in vain, and thereby removed 
two synonyms from the bulky catalogue of fossil Mammalia.” 
* Other specimens of this so-called species have been identified by Prof. Busk 
amongst the fossil remains from Acton Green. 
