12 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



hollowed below, and flattened above at the point of the origin of the brow-tine, causing 

 the fork of the brow-tine to be webbed. Above the brow-tine the beam is cylindrical, 

 and curves gently upwards to the base of the second tine (figs. 2, 3, c). More generally 

 however, this portion of the antler is straight. It also generally bears a ridge, which 

 passes from the fork of the brow-tine to the base of the second tine on the antero-outer 

 side of the beam. This, however, is not present in all the specimens. The second tine 

 (figs. 2 and 3, c) springs at right angles or nearly so to the beam, and from a plane 

 which is the same or nearly the same as that of the brow-tine, in this respect differing 

 from the corresponding portion of the antler of Cervus verticornis (see Chapter V), which 

 occurs in the same deposits. The beam is flattened at the base of the second tine, above 

 which it rapidly recovers its rounded form, only to lose it again at the base of tine 3 

 (fig. 3, d), which springs from the back of the antler. Above this it presents an oval 

 section, and sweeps forwards and upwards at an angle of 140° degrees in the figured 

 specimen, and of 145° in a second in Mr. Backhouse's collection, to its bifurcation into 

 two flattened tines,/ and g, which constitute the crown, one being directed forwards and 

 the other backwards at an angle of 120°. A second fragment of palm from Kessingland 

 in Mr. W. M. Crowfoot's Collection, shows the equal bifurcation into two tines,/ and g, 

 at an angle of 118°, each measuring at its fractured base 1*8 X 0*9 inches. 



The beam in the well-preserved specimens is traversed by grooves, which are more 

 strongly marked in the older and larger (fig. 4) than in the younger and smaller indi- 

 viduals. The general curvature of the antlers is sigmoid. As the antlers increase in 

 size they present modifications of form usually met with in the living Deer, such as 

 Cervus elapltus and C. dama. Sometimes an " offer " is present above the brow-tine, 

 which in an antler base from Overstrand (115, Savin Coll.) is developed into an accessory 

 brow-tine 1*5 inches above it, and giving a measurement of 3*4 inches from the bur to 

 the fork. In a second (Savin Coll.) the " offer " is present, and the normal second tine, 

 c, is represented by two small cylindrical tines set in the same transverse plane on the 

 front of the beam. The antlers sweep backwards and forwards after giving off the 

 brow-tine. 



As the antlers increase in size, an additional tine makes its appearance on the front 

 of the beam between tine 2, c, and the back tine, d, as may be seen in a fine basal half of 

 an antler from Overstrand (PI. Ill, fig. 4) in Mr. Savin's Collection. It may be 

 remarked that an additional tine is developed in a similar point in old individuals of 

 Cervus verticornis. 



§ 3. Measurements of Antlers. — The following table (pp. 14, 15) represents the 

 variation in size of the antlers of this species. It shows that the second tine, c, of the 

 figures is variable in its position on the beam, the minimum distance from the brow- 

 tine, b, being 53 inches and the maximum 9*6 inches. 



It is worthy of remark that some of the antlers bear the characteristic marks of the 



