THE LIFE OF MAMMALS 
northern continent, the second the South American brockets, 
and the third the Andean pudu. 
The antlers of the American deer, in fact, are constructed on a plan 
different from those of the wapiti and Old World cervine deer (except the 
Antler roe and the mi-lou) in that there is no brow tine, and the 
Types. antler, instead of bearing points from a beam, forks, as growth 
proceeds, into more or Icss equal branches. The lower prong is projected 
forward, and the whole antlers curve forward, as is not the case in Cervus. 
Along with this go correlative facts of 
anatomy, thus: in the Old World cervine 
deer and the elk-moose (Plesiometacarpalia) 
the proximal portions of the lateral (second 
and fifth) metacarpals persist, and the 
vomer, or roof bone of the nostrils, is never 
so ossified as to divide them into two dis- 
| tinct passages; in the New World deer 
and the reindeer-caribou (Telemetacarpalia) 
the distal extremities of the lateral metacar- 
pals persist, and the vomer sends down a 
vertical plate partitioning the rear of the 
nasal passage. The distinction is a very 
deep and ancient one, for the divergence of 
the two types began as early as the Miocene. Previous to that, however, 
the elk type had been established; and still earlier, most antique of all, 
began the reindeer type, entirely separate from the elk line of descent. In 
the light of these facts, Darwin’s remarks 22 have renewed interest. 
HEAD OF WHITE-TAILED DEER. 
Our “common” white-tailed or willow deer —the Vir- 
ginia deer or “‘mazama”’ of the older books — is known every- 
Wile: where in one or another of its numerous geographical 
taile ei 
Deer. races. Eastern specimens stand on the average 
about three and a half feet high in the full-grown buck, the 
females being less, and southern specimens much smaller than 
those of the northern states; but, as in the case of all deer, 
individuals vary greatly in all their dimensions. The smallest 
known are the “dwarf deer” of Arizona. The general color in 
summer is a bright rufous, with the lower parts white, a black 
mark on the chin, and the edge and under side of the plume- 
326 
