HYBRIDITY OF THE CERVIDZ.. 317 
six years previously. They had thriven and bred well in the bleak 
mountain climate of the Berchtesgaden. 
“Out of the fourteen, seven were hinds far gone with calf. The keeper 
who had charge of them entered at the time of the purchase into the 
service of the Prince. It took three days to transport the animals by 
rail to Pless, where they were provided on their arrival with accommo- 
dation similar in every respect to that which they had enjoyed in Berch- 
tesgaden. At the end of a week two died, and a few days later seven 
imore, after an illness of some hours. Three more were attacked, but 
saved by the use of proper remedies. The disease was a distemper 
brought on by feeding on the sour-forest grass, and is called in German 
‘ Anthraxkrankheit,’ of which there are different phrases, Milzbrand, 
Lungenbrand, Karbuncles Euche. 
“The survivors were removed to higher and healthier ground. An- 
other fell a victim to the distemper, and four now remained, which mul- 
tiplied rapidly. Every hind dropped her calf regularly. The deer 
were unaffected by cold; for in a temperature of fifteen degrees to twen- 
ty-three degrees below zero (Reaumur), they lay out in an exposed 
windy spot. Still the distemper renewed its attacks every year, and 
sometimes with deadly result, so that the stock fluctuated in numbers be- 
tween two and fourteen. 
“The breeding of the pure Wapiti appearing to be a failure, it was 
decided to try a cross with the native red deer, although zodlogists had 
pronounced this to be an impossibility, or at least had predicted that the 
offspring would be sterile. 
“Fifteen hinds of the common red deer breed were taken and en- 
closed in the neighborhood of the Wapitis; and in the rutting season a 
three-year old Wapiti stag was admitted to them. <A two-year old 
Wapiti stag got five calves. Half-breed hinds, when three years old, 
bore calves, and thus the fecundity of the hybrids was a fait accompli in 
spite of the zodlogists. As the supply of two-year old Wapiti stags 
failed they were replaced by yearlings, which, however, invariably died. 
The two-year old stags of half breed were enclosed and separated from 
the hinds. A two-year old Wapiti stag admitted to the half bred hinds 
was replaced by one of mixed breed. The produce of the hinds proved 
that the cross of the Wapiti stag with half breeds was a success. 
“Early in 1868 all the pure Wapitis except one had died, and there 
remained twenty-eight head of half breeds, of which three or four had 
been twice and some once, crossed with pure Wapiti. The breeding 
with the half blooded stock is to be continued, and they are to be let 
into the open forest when the present space becomes too small. 
“The half breed deer is of colossal size, little inferior to a Wapiti in 
bulk and antlers. Its roar is less sonorous than that of the red deer. A 
four-year old half breed, twice crossed, carries large antlers with four- 
teen points. In general appearance it resembles the red deer but is 
larger.” 
