122 G. P. Hughes — The Red-Deer in Northumberland. 



the vast forests of Franconia and Thuringia, where giant specimens 

 of Mammalia at one time abounded, would their equal be found. 

 I have, therefore, thought it desirable, as I have no descendant of 

 my own, to have this specimen photographed, and a copy sent to 

 some of our national Museums and Societies, in order to have the 

 existence of this fine pair of antlers of Cervus elaphus recorded in 

 proper form. 



Measueement of the Antlers preserved at Middleton Hall, "Wooler, 

 Northumberland. 



1. Width from inside to inside of the crowns 



2. Length of the beam to leading crown tine 



3. Width from outside to inside of beam at crown ... 



4. Circumference of the crowns (left)... 



(rigM) 



5. Length of brow antlers (left) 



^.,M „ „ (right) 



6. Width of skull at stem 



7. Circumference of stem at base 



8. Number of points upon the two stems or beams ... 



" This set of antlers, with several of less size, with entire skeletons 

 of red-deer measuring 15 hands in height, one foot taller than the 

 red-deer now extant, were exhumed from a lacustrine deposit of 

 marl and peat known as the Cresswell Bog, at the eastern base 

 of the Cheviot Hills. The following is the section of deposits in 

 descending order as given by Mr. G. Tate, F.G-.S., Secretary to 

 Berwickshire Naturalists' Club: — (1) Peat, in which are prostrate 

 trees of hazel and birch, and also hazel-nuts : from 2 to 4 feet in 

 thickness. (2) Marl, in which have been found skeletons of 

 red-deer, teeth of the boar, and great numbers of fresh- water 

 shells : 8 feet thick. (3) Blue Clay, a few inches in thickness. 

 (4) Boulder-clay and gravel." — Transactions of Berwickshire Nat. 

 Cluh, 18fi0. ' 



These facts give a tolerably clear history of the succession of 

 events at this spot. During the Boulder-clay period the district was 

 covered with water up to a considerable height. This period, with 

 its subarctic climate, its glaciers and floating icebergs, passed away, 

 and the present conformation of the British Isles was to a great extent 

 assumed. Where this specimen was found a small lake had been 

 left, in which for ages mollusks lived and bred, for the accumulation 

 of 8 feet of marl, chiefly formed of their shells, indicates a con- 

 siderable lapse of time. Deer and boar living along its margin, 

 or coming to it for drink, or, I may add, pursued by wolves or 

 Neolithic man, occasionally found a tomb beneath its waters and 

 yielding marl. In the course of time the waters were partly drained 

 off, but the ground being adapted for the growth of mosses, peat 

 was formed over the marl, and trees and bushes growing around 

 were time after time carried by floods and winds into the marshy 

 ground, which they have contributed to increase and solidify. 



