224 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
Generally the antler of the Virginia Deer arises from the pedi- 
cel in the facial line spreading more or less to the basal snag. 
From that point it commences to curve upward and forward, and 
then downward and inward, till the extremities of the beams re- 
motely approach each other. This enables the animal by bow- 
ing his head in battle, as is his habit, to present the tines to the 
adversary in front. When two meet in the shock of battle thus 
armed, these antlers form so complete a shield that I have never 
known a point to reach an adversary, as will be seen when we 
24. Acapulco Deer. 25 and 26, Common Deer 
come to describe their mode of warfare. The basal snag starts 
about two inches above the burr and rises to the height of from 
two to five inches at an angle of from fifteen to thirty degrees to 
the beam. This snag is usually more covered with tubercles 
than the tines above, and on very large specimens from aged ani- 
mals is sometimes bifurcated, and sometimes flattened as in Fig. 
26; sometimes a small supplemental snag occurs near the base, 
and I have occasionally observed one or more of the tubercles 
of the burr extend to snags an inch long. Usually from one to 
half a dozen tines occur on each antler, the lower ones being the 
longest and largest ; on very large specimens some of these tines 
may produce snags, or a snag may arise from the beam at about 
the same point where a tine ocew's. On the smaller specimens, 
the tines usually correspond on the two antlers on the same head, 
but as the animal grows older and the antlers larger this is less 
likely to be the case, though if one antler has an extraordinary 
