ANTLERS 83 



is well worth reading by those who are interested in 

 the matter, as are also the criticisms thereon (printed 

 in the succeeding number for October) by Lord 

 Ebrington, whose experience as master of the 

 Devon and Somerset Staghounds enabled him to 

 write authoritatively on the subject. 



The question is sometimes asked whether it is 

 possible to tell the age of a stag by his horns. 

 The late Rev. J. Boyce, one of the oldest stag- 

 hunters in the county of Devon, on being asked 

 this question, replied, " No," and that the only way 

 in which the different ages could be possibly ascer- 

 tained was to keep observation on one and the 

 same animal for several years in confinement, 

 as in the experiment made by Mr Clarke, of 

 Lynton. Since then the subject has been more 

 fully investigated and elucidated, and in the Natural 

 History Museum may now be seen a series of cast 

 horns /rom the same animal, showing the appear- 

 ance they present at different ages. 



