508 THE DESCENT OF MAN. 



by this procedure gradually drove the party of rescuers backwards, 

 to .a distance of 150 or 200 feet; and the attacked man was killed.^" 



Although the horns of stags are efficient weapons, there can, 

 I think he no doubt that a single point would have been much 

 more dangerous than a branched antler; and Judge Caton, who 

 has had large experience with deer, fully concurs in this conclu- 

 sion. Nor do the branching horns, though highly Important as 

 a means of defense against rival stags, appear perfectly well 

 adapted for this purpose, as they are liable to become interlocked. 

 The suspicion has therefore crossed my mind that they may serve 

 in part as ornaments. That the branched antlers of stags as well 

 as the elegant lyrated horns of certain antelopes, with their 

 graceful double curvature, (fig. 64), are ornamental in our eyes, 

 no one will dispute. If then, the horns, like the splendid accoutre- 

 ments of the knights of old, add to the noble appearance of stags 

 and antelopes, they may have been modified partly for this pur- 

 pose, though mainly for actual service in battle; but I have no 

 evidence in favor of this belief. 



An interesting case has lately been published, from which it ap- 

 pears that the horns of a deer in one district in the United States 

 are now being modified through sexual and natural selection. A 

 writer in an excellent American JournaP' says, that he has hunted 

 for the last twenty-one years in the Adirondacks, where the 

 Cervus vlrginlanus abounds. About fourteen years ago he first 

 heard of spike-horn bucks. These became from year to year more 

 common; about five years ago he shot one, and afterwards an- 

 other, and now they are frequently killed. "The spike-horn dif- 

 "fers greatly from the common antler of the C. virginianus. It con- 

 "sists of a single spike, more slender than the antler, and scarcely 

 "half so long, projecting forward from the brow, and terminating 

 "in a very sharp point. It gives a considerable advantage to its pos- 

 "sessor over the common buck. Besides enabling him to run more 

 "swiftly through the thick woods and underbrush (every hunter 

 "knows that does and yearling bucks run much more rapidly than 

 "the large bucks when armed with their cumbrous antlers), the 

 "spike-horn is a more effective weapon than the common antler. 

 "With this advantage the spike-horn bucks are gaining upon the 

 "common bucks, and'may, in time, entirely supersede them in the 

 "Adirondacks. Undoubtedly the first spike-horn buck was merely 

 "an accidental freak of nature. But his spike-horns gave him an 

 "advantage, and enabled him to propagate his peculiarity. His 

 "descendants having a like advantage, have propagated the pe- 

 "culiarity in a constantly increasing ratio, till they are slowly 



*> See a most interesting' account In the Appendix to Hon. J. D, 

 Caton' s paper, as above quoted. 

 " 'The American Naturalist,' Dec. 1869, p. 652. 



