CHARACTERS OF ELAPHURUS AND OTUER CERVID.E. 191 



single pair of antlers of large size instead of two pairs of small or 

 medium size becomes increasingly rare the longer tlie deer remain 

 in this countr\^ The result is now that the only really handsome 

 iieads are those carried by stags five and six years old. As a rule, 

 there is no attempt to resume the rut when the winter antlers 

 harden, the stag remaining as lazy and peaceful as if still in 

 velvet ; but one or two stags were known to Lord Tavistock which 

 for several seasons recommenced calling in midwinter. IS'ovember 

 was the latest month in which he heard stags, still carrying their 

 summer horns, calling ; and he has seen a six-year old stag, in 

 full summer coat and carrying a large pair of horns, herding his 

 hinds with great energy and calling in the first week in February. 

 The antlers in this case were the continuous growth of the whole 

 autvimn and winter. 



The majority of the calves are born in April and May. Very 

 late ones are not common! 



In 1922 Ludwig Zukowsky, Hagenbeck's assistant, published a 

 paper* upon Elaphurus daviclicmus , based upon a specimen that 

 was exhibited for nearly two years at Stellingen. Unfortunately, 

 the author was not acquainted with the published literature on 

 this subject. He described in detail the mode of growth of the 

 antlers, and quite correctly spoke of the anterior branch as the 

 " brow-tine." In this he confirmed in every particular my account 

 published in 1912 (P. Z. S. pp. 777-780) from sketches kindly 

 supplied by Lord Tavistock, the accuracy of which I was subse- 

 quently able to verify on the specimen exhibited in the Zoological 

 Gardens t. Zukowsky also recorded the succession of the antlers 

 in this aberrant species. The specimen at Stellingen cast its 

 antlers on the following dates :— March 8, 1913, Sept. 18, 1913, 

 March 17, 1914, Oct. 5, 1914, and died on Dec. 30, 1914, with 

 fully developed antlers in velvet. 



When Hagenbeck's specimen died it was sent to be mounted to 

 the NaturariTistory Museum, Hamburg, and Herr Gast, Super- 

 intendent of that institution, subsequently wrote to Zukowsky 

 to inform him that he had found just beneath the edge of the 

 under lip "a deep sheath or vagina let into the skin, which seemed 

 to point to a glandular duct, one inch in length." I failed to find 

 any trace of this structure in the female specimen of Elaphuribs 

 which the Duke of Bedford sent to me for the special purpose of 

 investigating. this gland. Possibly there may be such a gland 

 restricted to the male ; but, so far as is at present known, the 

 cutaneous glands in the Cervidae are alike in the two sexes J. 



' * I am indebted to tlie Dnkc of Bedford for kindly sending me a copy of this 

 paper, which was published in Arch. Naturg. vol. Ixxxviii., May 1922. 



t When 1 first suggested in 1910 that the anterior and posterior branches of the 

 antlers of Elaphurus are strictly homologovis with the " brow-tine " and " beam " 

 respectively of the antlers of ordinary Cervidee, I was not aware that I had been 

 anticipated in this view by Dr. Theodore Gill, who came to the same conclusion. 

 This was published I believe in ' Forest and Stream,' but I do not recollect the 

 reference. 



t Pollowina: Garrod, I exclude Moschus from this family. 



