THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
in paleontology. The oldest fossil types are Miocene, and were small 
creatures somewhat akin to the modern muntjacs, but totally hornless. 
Not until the middle of the Miocene has a deer (Dicroceras) been found 
with horns, and they are bifid, and stand upon a long pedicel — also 
muntjac-like. Later came true deer with branching horns which culmi- 
nated in a European species with twelve points on each antler — the cele- 
brated ‘‘giant stag” of the Irish peat bogs and similar places, whose pal- 
mated antlers spread ten to twelve feet from tip to tip; it was, in fact, a 
huge fallow deer. 
Some sixty living species of deer are known, mostly American 
and Asiatic. Africa (except the Barbary coast, which is Eu- 
ropean zodlogically) has none, nor has Australia. All are much 
alike in having short brittle hair inclined to lengthen about the 
neck and shoulders into a mane, especially noticeable in the 
polygamous, contentious stags, for which it serves as a buckler 
against a rival’s horns; short, well-feathered, and often erectile 
tails; tall, mobile, and expressive ears; big dark eyes, below 
which open great tear ducts; and canines in the upper jaw, 
in some species becoming formidable tusks. In color all are 
some tint of golden or reddish brown, deepening in some Ori- 
ental species to almost black, and elsewhere often showing a 
much darker tone in places, as in the dull chestnut mane of our 
wapiti. There is usually more or less white on the lower sur- 
faces, and pale color about the stern, most conspicuous in such 
kinds as form herds in an open country; but no very striking 
ornamentation of the face appears. Several species, however, 
as the fallow, the axis, and the sikas, are spotted with 
white. 
These spottings have been the text of much speculation on the relation 
between an animal’s coloration and its safety from enemies. The idea in 
this case is that the slight spottings increase the deer’s chance 
of remaining unseen as it stands beneath the trees. ‘One 
could not help noticing,” remarks one writer, after watching the dappled 
fallow deer in an English park, ‘how remarkably their mottled skins, an- 
gular outlines, and branching horns fitted them for concealment in the 
glades of the forest.” The conclusion is that the dappled coat harmo- 
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Coloration. 
