364 MR. LYDEKKER ON AN ANTLER FROM ASIA MINOR. [May 6, 



the same specimen is alluded to in the following words: — "At the 

 village of Jarpuz, at the foot of the Bimboghas Mountains near 

 Albistan, Danfoid obtained from a peasant a very remarkable Deer's 

 antler, in either a subfossil or a greatly weathered condition ; and he 

 saw another similar specimen in the same locality. When he 

 exhibited tliis antler at a meeting of the Society last year there was 

 some difference of opinion as to whether it was or was not an 

 abnormal specimen of Cervns elaphus ; but as we are ourselves 

 strongly of opinion that it cannot be referred to any known recent 

 Deer, we reserve its description for another opportunity." 



Recently Mr. Danford has presented this interesting specimen to 

 the British Museum, and, at the request of Mr. O. Thomas, I have 

 undertaken an examination, the results of wbich are now laid before 

 the Society. I may say, first of all, tbat my conclusions differ from 

 those arrived at by Messrs. Danford and Alston, and that the speci- 

 men, in my judgment, is nothing more than a very abnormal antler 

 of a Red Deer. There is nothing in the condition of the specimen 

 to suggest fossilization, although it has evidently been exposed for a 

 considerable period to the action of the atmosphere. 



This antler (Plate XXX. fig. 1) belongs to the right side, and is 

 perfect, with the exception of the base, which has been longitudinally 

 split, so as to carry away the brow- and bez-tynes. It is that of 

 an animal nearly or quite as large as the Maral, the beam being 

 very stout and as much as two and a half feet in length. Unfor- 

 tunately the imperfect condition of the base renders it impos- 

 sible to be certain that both a brow- and a bez-tyne were present, 

 but from the presence of a prominence some distance above the burr 

 corresponding to the point of origin of a bez-tyne, I am inclined to 

 consider that both these tynes may have been present, although, as 

 is not uncommonly the case, they must have originated very close 

 together. Above the point of origin of the presumed bez-tyne there 

 is an almost cylindrical and nearly straight beam extending, without 

 any trace of a trez-tyne, for a distance of two feet. Beyond this 

 point the beam suddenly expands into a crown, which is imperfectly 

 palmated, consisting of a stout cylindrical anterior tyne, of a median 

 palmation with five snags, and of a somewhat flattened posterior tyne 

 terminating in two snags. The whole of the crown forms, so to 

 speak, one side of a cup, so that no true cup occurs. 



At first sight this antler looks utterly unlike that of a Red Deer, 

 but further comparison shows that it may be readily derived from the 

 more normal type. Thus, if I am right in considering that both a 

 brow- and bez-tyne were developed, we have one very strong point in 

 favour of this view. Next, if the crown be compared with antlers 

 like the specimens in the Geological Department of the British 

 Museum (No. M. 392) from an Irish lake, figured in Owen's 'British 

 Fossil Mammals and Birds,' p. 472, fig. 196, it will be found that the 

 palmation of the crown is very similar in the two, if we remove the 

 tyne forming the external portion of the cup in the Irish specimen. 

 A much more striking resemblance is, however, presented by three 

 recent detached antlers in the Museum, some at least of which were 



