ON ANTLER-GROWTH IN THE CERVIDJi;. 773 



rufous-fawn with very faint traces of spotting nearly clown to 

 the fetlocks ; while from the latter to the hoofs they are dirty 

 greyish white. ' 



The foregoing evidence clearly establishes the right of the 

 North Rhodesian Giraffe to rank as a distinct local race ; and if 

 it be true that the one herd is completelj^ isolated, there is 

 probably no intergradation with the Kilimanjaro race. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE LXXXVI. 

 Adult bull of Giraffa camelopardalis thornicrofti. 



46. On Antler-Growth in the Cervidas, with special reference 

 to Elapliurus and Odocoileiis (Dorcelaphus). By 

 R. I. PococK, F.Il.S., F.L.S., F.Z.S., Superintendent 

 of the Gardens and Curator of Mammals. 



[Received and Read June 4, 1912.] 



(Text-figures 108-112.) 



Index. 



Page 



Classifications of the Cervidse 773 



Mode of growth of Antlers in typical Old World Deer 775 



Interpretation of the Antlers of Elaphurus davidianus 777 



Interpretation of the Antlers of Odocoileus sp. incevt 780 



Date of Antler-change in American and Old World Deer ... 783 (Note) 



Introchtction. 



Most, if not all, the attempts that have hitherto been made to 

 understand the antlers of Deer and arrive at correct conclusions 

 regarding the homology of the tines have been based upon com- 

 parisons between the fully formed antlers of different species. 

 This, in my opinion, is the reason why there has been failure in 

 some cases to detect homologies which study of the growth of 

 individual antlers reveals. 



The importance of this question depends upon the circumstance 

 that twenty years ago Mr. Gordon Cameron * proposed a classi- 

 fication of the Oervidse, based upon the antlers, as a substitute 

 for the classification, founded upon the skeletal structure of the 

 fore feet, which Sir Victor Brooke had suggested f. 



To make clear the purpose of the present paper, it is necessary 

 to summarise briefly the rival classifications put forward by these 

 tAvo authors. Sir Victor Brooke divided the Cervidae into two 



* ' The Field/ 1892, pp. 265, 703, 741, 860. 

 t P. Z. S. 1878, pp. 883-928. 



Proc. Zool. Soc— 1912, No. LII. 52 



