22 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



CHAPTER V. 

 Pis. V, VI, VII. 



Cervus verticornis, Dawkins. 



§ 1 . Introduction. § 3. Measurements of Antlers. 



§ 2. Definition of Antlers. §4. The Skull. 



§ 5. Range in Space and Time. 



§ 1. Introduction. — A group of antlers from the Forest Bed of Norfolk in the 

 Collections of the Rev. S. W. King and Mr. Jarvis, and of Mr. John Gunn, led me, in 

 1872, 1 to define the Cervus verticornis from all other Deer recent and fossil. In the 

 present chapter I propose to bring together all the information which I have been able 

 to obtain from the study of specimens discovered since that time. 



§ 2. The Definition of the Antlers. — The large series of specimens, consisting of 

 upwards of ninety in number, which I have studied in the various collections, allows me 

 to show the stages in antler-development from youth to old age, and to mark the 

 variations from the normal type. The characters of the antlers are as follows : — The 

 pedicle is very short, not being more than two inches in length in any specimen which 

 has passed through my hands. The base of the antler is cylindrical and strongly 

 grooved, the grooves traversing the whole of the antler in its unworn condition, with the 

 exception of the palmated areas and the tips of the tines. The bur, a (Pis. V, figs. 1,3; 

 PI. VI, figs. 1, 2), is stout and set on at oblique angles to the main axis of the base of the 

 beam. It is very generally worn away in the specimens which have been exposed to 

 the action of the waves. The beam above the bur is cylindrical in the young antler 

 (PL V, fig. 1 ; PL VI, fig. 2), but in the older ones is traversed by irregular elevations 

 and depressions which destroy its cylindrical outline. The first tine, b (Pis. V, VI, VII), 

 is stout, round in section, and springs from the beam generally at a distance of about 

 two inches from the bur, and at an angle to axis of base of antler slightly greater than 

 a right angle. In the young antler (PL V, fig. 1) it makes an angle of 126° with the 

 main axis of the beam, and in figs. 2 and 3 of PL V, an angle of 135°. It first sweeps 

 forwards and then downwards describing an arc, as may be seen in the figured skulls 

 (PL VII, figs. 1 and 2). 



It is this singular character that led me to give the distinctive name of C verticornis 

 to the species. 



In the fine skull recently obtained by Mr. Backhouse from Kessingland (PL VII, 



1 'Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. Lon<],' vol. xxviii, p. 407. 



