CERVIDA 323 
probably indicating the ancestral form from which the Red Deer 
and several of the allied species are descended. 
The North American Wapiti (Cervus canadensis, Fig. 129), the 
Persian Maral (C. maral), the Kashmir Stag (C. cashmeerianus), as 
well as C. affinis of Tibet, are all closely allied to the Red Deer, but 
are of larger size, this being especially the case with the first two. 
A fine example of the antlers of the Wapiti is shown in the 
accompanying woodcut, and exhibits the absence of a cup at the 
surroyals, by which this species is distinguished from the Red Deer. 
The last, or Damine group of existing Deer includes the Common 
and the Persian Fallow Deer. These are readily characterised 
by the palmation of the antlers in the region of the surroyals 
and the spotted coat. The Common Fallow Deer (C. dama) stands 
about three feet in height. The Persian Fallow Deer ((. 
mesopotamicus) is very closely allied, differing only in its slightly 
larger size and the form of the antlers, the two breeding together. 
The common species, although now kept in English parks, does not 
appear to be a native of this country, having probably been 
introduced from the regions bordering the Mediterranean. The fur 
is of a yellowish-brown colour (whence the name “ fallow ”), marked 
with white spots ; there is, however, a uniformly dark brown variety 
found in Britain. The bucks and does live apart, except during the 
pairing season; and the doe produces one or two, and sometimes 
three fawns at a birth. The Fallow Deer from the Pleistocene and 
Pliocene deposits of the East Coast described under the names of 
C. brownt and C. faulconerit appear to have been closely allied to the 
existing species. The remarkable C. verticornis, of the Norfolk 
Forest-bed, is regarded as an aberrant member of this group, in 
which the antlers are very short and thick, with the brow tine 
cylindrical and downwardly curved, and the beam expanded above 
the tres tine into a crown with two points. 
The extinct Irish Deer (Cervus giganteus), of which the skeleton 
is shown in the woodcut (Fig. 130), is the only representative of the 
Megacerotine group. The antlers, which may have a span of over 
11 feet, are enormously palmated, and have a bifurcated brow 
tine, a small bez tine, and a third posterior tine. The skeleton 
measures upwards of 6 feet at the withers. Remains of this 
species are especially common in the peat-bogs of Ireland, but are 
also met with in Pleistocene deposits over a large part of Europe. 
In addition to the forms already mentioned there are many other 
fossil species of Cervus, some of which, like the English Pleistocene 
C. sedgewicki, cannot be included in any of the existing groups. 
There is no conclusive evidence of the existence of any species of 
Cervus before the Lower Pliocene period. 
Telemetacarpalia.—This section includes all the Deer of the 
New World, together with some Old World forms, and is charac- 
