12 THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 



This female deposited five eggs, only four of which hutched. 

 S'-.v l:s"d an egg each morning for five consecutive mornings then 

 i >:■,.. ..n liie task of incuiiat:on. 



Th-c incniicUion period was from ten to eleven da\'s, probably 

 250 to 255 hours to he more exact ; for I neglected to record 

 vvhether it was at my morning or afternoon visit that I noticed 

 that the last fertile egg had hatched. So far as I am aware this 

 is tlie first published account of the incubation period of the 

 dickcisseh 



IV. A PRELIMINARY NOTE ON THE NUMBER OF 

 TINES IN THE ANTLERS OF THE V/HITE-TAIL 



DEER AS CORRELATED WITH AGE 

 Ed. D. Crabb 



F;- r-, the Zoological Lalioratory of the University of Oklahoma. 

 Ci'ntrii)ution No. 8. Second Series. 



A c'vi^ircn "tlmml) rule," according to many lumters, for 



- ir/ng the age of a deer is tliat a deer is as many )-ears old 



, vc aie po'nts en biis antlers. Tiie purpose oi this paper 



^- :\v that there is no correlation l:ctwecn age and number of 



\\''j l::vo,v that the c.nidition of the manmialian teeth, espec- 

 ■i ■ ' regard to the shedding of the deciduous or milk teeth 



; ,-, trarance 6f the permanent dentit^ion, bears definite rela- 



I'l.iis \n tiic age of the mamm;al and that this relation is of fairly 

 rekrbie character; therefore, if one is to determine tlie age of 

 a deer by the numlier of tines on its aiitlers, there must he cor- 

 reb'ti^n lietv.-een (1) shedding of its deciduous teeth and condition 

 (,i' -,:■: iv:rrnanent dentition, (2) the number of tines on the antlers, 

 (5; and bctv;cen the numljer of tines and the age of the animal. 

 The v,riter has for siMne years been com.piling data with regard to 

 tlii^ CL'rrelation. 



'.'are l^as lieen taken in compiling this data to compare only 

 ^: :b.at v.cre killed in the same locality, so that they should 



1 •. ■.Tiiialiy the same feeding conditions; consequently the 



i ' : ,:,j have been subjected to the same relative amount of 



\-,-,;. ;-. .'L;,.ht comparalde cases are noted here. In order to meet 

 these requirements it is necessary to compare the eight specimens in 



tVV'-S. 



J!^. t'VO individuak-., designated as "A" and. "B" the antlers 

 are r'ractically tlie san-e as regards size and number of points, but 

 the dental batteries are different. That in "A" shows a mucli 

 m "/ v^orm condition than that in "B." The age of "A" as 



