490 DR. G. HERBERT FOWLER OS VARiATiox [June 19, 



normal type, but of a grade characteristic of bucks much 

 younger than this specimen, the other is profoundly modified. 

 Other modified specimens, which appear to me likely to have 

 the same histor}"-, are 1561, 1562, 1564. 



3. Antlers of castrated deer can be shed (? if castrated at birth). 

 This is shown by 1561, 1562, 1564 ; if castrated after the 

 horns for the year are " burnished," the animal may shed them 

 prematurely (1560); antlers put up after castration may be 

 retained for at least two years (1565). When shed the burr 

 is concave below, not flat or convex {passim). 



4. Partial castration soon after birth may result in a compara- 

 tively feeble but normal development of the antlers (1557) '. 



5. Castration on one side may result in the nearly noi'mal 

 development of one antler, and the abnormality and reduction 

 of the other (1567, and Mr. AValLice's specimen). This 

 reduction may oicnr on the castrated side of the animal 

 (1567), but is traditionally stated in the second specimen to 

 be of the opposite side to castration. 



There remain two doubtful specimens, the one (1558 and 1559 

 supra) witli Ihe rather incomprehensible label ; the other (1568) a 

 line head of eight points, whicli is said to have been castrated ; tho 

 catalogue is, however, uncertain on this point. 



Very interesting in the hght of the specimens gelded on one 

 side are the observations of Collyns (' Notes on the Chase of the 

 Wild Ked Deer,' London, 1862, Svo) : — "Not unfrequently I have 

 found deer killed by the hounds with horns deformed, or wanting. 

 I used to attribute this to injuries done to the horns during their 

 growth by fighting or otherwise ; but from frequent investigations 

 and dissections I have come to the conclusion that the appearances 

 have generally been due to the shot or slug of the poacher injuring 

 the deer in the testicle before his horns are shed, or during the 

 growth of the new horn." He figures a pair of antlers of a 

 specimen killed by the Devon and Somerset hounds ; one of these 

 Mas abortive, the other fairly well developed ; there uere shot- 

 A\ounds in the testis of the same side as the defective horn. 



At the Natural History Museum at South Kensington is an 

 interesting series of abnormal antlers of Cervus dama from the 

 New Forest, to which Mr. Oldfield Thomas has kindly called my 

 attention (50.2.5.1 to 46). While there is no history as to the 

 generative organs of these specimens, I have personally little 

 doubt, after comparison with the K. C. S. specimens, that in the 

 bulk of cases the abnormality is due to disease, removal, or 

 incomplete development of the generative organs ". Apart from 



1 This appears to be coininonly practised in some parks (Shirley, ' Sonio 

 Account of English Deer Parks,' London, 1867. Svo, p. 241) and among the 

 Lapps (Caton, 'Antelope and Deer of America,' Eoston, 1881, Svo). 



^ A belief exists that an injury of almost any kind will affect the development 

 of the antler ; this may be illustrated by two specimens in the Koy. Coll. Surg. 



