232 Sheppard: Note on a Malformed Antler of a Red Deer. 
somewhat the shape of a shoe-sole, 5} ins. long, 2% ins. in 
width at the broad end and, 12 ins. wide at the narrow end. 
Adjoining this, though apparently separated by a portion of the 
corona, is a smaller place of attachment, oval in shape, measur- 
ing 14 ins. by rt ins. 
The total weight of the specimen is 18 lbs. It is exceedingly 
hard, and dark coloured from its contact with the peat. 
From the unusual thickness of the horn, from its irregular 
shape, the number of tines branching at all angles, and lastly 
from the nature of the places of attachment to the skull, it 
seems evident that it really represents a pair of antlers, which, 
owing to some accident or disease, have grown together as one. 
Through the kind offices of Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., 
of the British Museum (South Kensington), the specimen was 
recently exhibited at a meeting of the Zoological Society of 
London, and the Fellows did not remember having seen anything 
quite like it previously. Sir Edmund G. Loder, Bart., who was 
present, kindly informs me that he has known stag's in Scotland 
which had only one antler each year. In each case the antler 
was exceptionally fine, in one instance having six points. In 
these instances there had never been an antler on the other side. 
In the ‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ * is printed a 
short note ‘On some Abnormal Remains of the Red Deer 
(Cervus elaphus) from the Post-Pliocene Deposits of the South 
of England,’ by Mr. Martin A. C. Hinton. In this the author 
places on record the discovery in various post-pliocene deposits 
in the south of England of certain remains of the red deer which 
present characters of abnormal nature. Three specimens are 
described : the first is a fragment of the frontal and antler of a 
very young individual, from the Pleistocene of Ilford; the next 
is from a fissure deposit of the same age in the Isle of Portland; 
and the third is from the Holocene alluvium of Moorfield, Slandon. 
The instances described show that whilst there is not the enlarge- 
ment and thickness shown in the Sutton-on-Sea example, the 
antlers have unquestionably grown in an abnormal way. In the 
opinion of the author (p. 212) ‘it is probable that these specimens 
belonged to individuals which had suffered injury to the testes 
at an early period of life, which resulted in making the retention 
of youthful characters possible for a longer period than is usually 
the case.’ In the same journal, in 1905 (pp. 191-197), Mr. R. I. 
Pocock has a paper on ‘The Effects of Castration on the 
* 1905, Vol. I., pp. 210-212. 
Naturalist, 
