210 



NATURE 



\yan. 14, 1875 



ON THE EXISTENCE OF THE FALLOW 

 DEER IN ENGLAND DURING PLEISTO- 

 CENE TIMES 



MR. SCLATER'S translation of Dr. Jeitteles' essay 

 on the geographical distribution of the Fallow 

 Deer in present and in past time (Nature, vol. xi. p. 71), 

 and the careful criticism which it has called forth on the 

 part of Mr. Boyd Dawkins (loc. cit. p. 112), have renewed 

 in my mind a conviction which I formed some years ago, 

 namely, that Cervus bro'iiinii and CcrvKs aaina are iden- 

 tical, and that under the former title the fact of the 

 existence of the Fallow Deer in England during the Pleis- 

 tocene period lies in some degree obscured. 



The interest which, doubtless, Dr. Jeitteles' essay has 

 excited induces me to believe the present to be a fitting 



occasion to endeavour to demonstrate the probability of 

 this conviction. In his original description of Ccrvus 

 broiunii (Quart. Geol. Journ. 1868, p. 514), Mr. Boyd 

 Dawkins thus writes : — • 



" The antlers of Cerviis brownii ait totally unlike those 

 of any existing species excepting Cervus damn, to which 

 they approach so closely that the type-specimen was con- 

 sidered by Dr. Falconer to belong to the latter. The 

 basal half, indeed, so strongly resembles the correspond- 

 ing portion of that of Ccrvus dama that it would be almost 

 impossible to differentiate fragments from which the 

 coronal portion had been broken away. But the resem- 

 blance ends at the second tyne (ir). If the series of 

 antlers of Ccrvus broiuiiii be compared with those of the 

 Fallow Deer which have been reproduced from Prof. 

 Blasius's valuable work, there is this important difference 



F[r. I,— Type of Cf 



a 



-Rigl.t Horn of Wild Greek Fallo 



visible : in the former ihe third tync {d) is present on the 

 anterior aspect, while in the latter it is .altogether absent. 

 With this exception the antlers of the two species are 

 most closely allied ; and PI. xvii. Fig. 4 corresponds 

 almost exactly Vv-ith PI. xviii. Fig 5, the third of the series 

 of antlers selected by Prof. Blasius as typical of Ccrvus 

 danuT. To the objection that the development of the 

 third anterior tyne may have been an accident, it may be 

 answered that it is to be found in none of the endless 

 variations of form assumed by the antlers of the Fallow 

 Deer, and that it is presented also by a far more ancient 

 cervine species from the cr.ig of Norwich." 



It is therefore clear that in its possession of the third 

 tyne (;/) is centred, according to Mr. Boyd Dawkins, the 

 Clacton Deer's sole ris^ht to be considered specifically dis- 

 tinct from the common Fallow Deer. The accompanying 

 drawings (Figs, i — 4) will, I think, be found to show the 

 insufficiency of this character. Fig. 2 represents a horn 

 of the wild Fallow Deer from Greece ; Fig. 3 that of a 



wild Fallow Deer from Sardinia. In both of these speci- 

 mens the third tyne {d) will be seen to be largely deve- 

 loped. These horns are selected from a considerable 

 series brought to me by my brother, Mr. Basil Brooke, 

 direct from Greece and Sardinia, and in none of the other 

 specmiens is this tyne developed, but in all the anterior 

 aspect of the horn resembles ordinary specimens of 

 the horns of Ccrvus dama, such as those reproduced by 

 Mr. Boyd Dawkins from Prof. Blasius's work. Fig. 4 

 illustrates still further the instability of the foundation 

 upon which is based the specific separation of Ccrvus 

 broiunii. The horn here figured belonged to a deer which 

 lived and died in one of my own parks. The third tyne 

 (rf), so distinctly shown in the figure, was produced but 

 once in the course of the animal's lifetime, neither its com- 

 panion horn nor those which preceded or succeeded it 

 showing the smallest trace of it. 



It may be remarked that the tyne d in the type of 

 Ccrvus brci-ii> >i a {Yig. i) stands at a lower level in relation 



