42 



GUIDE TO THE FOSSIL MAMMALS AND BIRDS. 



15. 



Pier-case Pier-cases 12, 13). A large extinct species, Alces latifrons, 

 flourished here at the beginning of the Pleistocene period, its 

 remains occurring with those of several extinct kinds of deer 

 in the Norfolk Forest Bed. The Savin Collection of antlers 

 of deer and elk from this deposit, near Cromer, is exhibited 

 in Pier-case 15. 



Antlers of deer related to Cervus occur first in the Upper 

 Pliocene of Europe, and among them may be noted those of 

 the so-called Cervus tetraceros from Prance (Fig. 32). A series 

 of antlers of this animal, representing individuals of different 

 ages, is mounted in the upper part of Pier-case 15. It will 

 be noticed that the number of tynes on the antlers increases 

 with age, as in the common stag (Fig. 33, c, d) and in all 



Fig. 33. — Antlers of various Deer, much reduced in size. A. Cervulus 

 dicramoceros ; Lower Pliocene. B. Cervus pardinensis ; Upper Plio- 

 cene. C, D. Cervus elwphus, second year and adult ; Pleistocene and 

 Recent. E. Bony pedicle and antler of existing Muntjak, Cervulus 

 muntjac. P. Existing Fallow Deer, Cervus dama. 



other deer with elaborate antlers; but the complexity and 

 size of the Upper Pliocene antlers never equal those of some 

 of the Pleistocene antlers. The Lower Pliocene and Upper 

 and Middle Miocene deer-antlers are still smaller and simpler, 

 Table-ease as shown by examples in Table-case 9 (see also Fig. 33, a). 

 The Lower Miocene deer, as represented by Amphitragulus 

 from France and Germany, are small and quite destitute of 

 antlers, like the living musk-deer (Moschus) of Asia. The 

 geological history of the antlers in the race of deer thus 



9. 



