MILESTONES OF EVOLUTION 49 



the species appear, one after the other, until the antler 

 has attained its full size : it is still covered by the velvet 

 skin. Presently, however, the blood supply is cut off by 

 the growth of a ring of bone at the base of the antler ; 

 and this is speedily followed by the sloughing away of 

 the " velvet," the remnants of which are removed by the 

 animal itself, which rubs its new-grown weapons against 

 the boughs of a tree until the offending rags have been 

 removed. 



In species like the giant wapiti and the red-deer, for 

 example, where the antlers attain a great size and numerous 

 branches, their maximum development is not attained 

 until the animal has reached its prime. Each new pair 

 is larger and more complex than the last. Sooner or 

 later, however, old age overtakes the proud possessor of 

 these splendid ornaments, and the first sign of the process 

 of decay is seen in their decline, after each renewal, both 

 in size and complexity. This gradual increase in the 

 complexity of the antlers which takes place during the 

 lifetime of the individual is, be it noted, a repetition of 

 what has taken place during the history of the race ; and 

 this much is established by the records obtained from 

 fossils. 



The earliest known deer, which carry us back to the 

 liOwer Miocene period, were hornless, like adult females 

 and the fawns of to-day : by the period of the Middle 

 Miocene the males of some species had acquired small 

 antlers forked at the tip. These answer to the second 

 pair of antlers developed by, say, the young red-deer in 

 its second year. We may safely assume that still earher 

 there were species which, when adult, bore simple, un- 

 branched antlers, or " prickets," hke those of the seven- 

 months-old fawn of the red-deer. 

 4 



