SOB THE DESCENT OF MAN 



An excellent case for investigation is afforded by the 

 Deer family. In all the species but one the horns are 

 developed only in the males, though certainly transmitted 

 through the femaleg, and capable of abnormal development 

 in them. In the reindeer, on the other hand, the female is 

 provided with horns; so that in this species the horns ought, 

 according to our rule, to appear early in life, long before 

 the two sexes are mature and have come to differ much in 

 constitution. In all the other species the horns ought to 

 appear later in life, which would lead to their development 

 in that sex alone in which they first appeared in the pro- 

 genitor of the whole Family. Now in seven species, belong- 

 ing to distinct sections of the family and inhabiting different 

 regions, in which the stags alone bear horns, I find that the 

 horns first appear at periods varying from nine months after 

 birth in the roebuck, to ten, twelve, or even more months, 

 in the stags of the six other and larger species. " But with 

 the reindeer the case is widely different; for, as I hear from 

 Professor Nilsson, who kindly made special inquiries for me 

 in Lapland, the horns appear in the young animals within 

 four or five weeks after birth, and at the same time in both 

 sexes. So that here we have a structure developed at a 

 most unusually early age in one species of the family, and 

 likewise common to both sexes in this one species alone. 



In several kinds of antelopes, only the males are pro- 

 vided with horns, while in the greater number both sexes 

 bear horns. "With respect to the period of development, 

 Mr. Blyth informs me that there was iat one time in the 

 Zoological Gardens a young koodoo {Ant. strepsiceros), of 

 which the males alone are horned, and also the young 

 of a closely allied species, the eland {Ant. areas), in which 



29 I am much, obliged to Mr. Cupples for having made inquiries for me in 

 regard to the Roebuclc and "Red Deer of Scotland from Mr. Eobertson, the experi- 

 enced head forester to the Marquis of Breadalbane. In regard to Fallow-deer, 

 I have to thank Mr. Eyton and others for information. For the Oervus alces 

 of N. America, see "Land and Water," 1868, pp. 221 and 254; and for the 

 G. Tvrgmicmus and sirongyloceros of the same continent, see J. D. Caton, in 

 "Ottawa Acad, of Nat. S6.," 1868, p. 13. For Gervas Eldi of Pegu, see Lieut. 

 Beavan, "Proc. Zoolog. Soc," 1867, p. 162. 



