DEEE. 83 



otlier regions when we come to tlie deer, since, with the 

 exce^jtion of the Barbar_v stag, there is no representative of 

 tlie grou]3 in all that continent. With few exceptions, deer 

 are characterized by the antlers of the males, the reindeer 

 alone having these ajipendages in both sexes. They are 

 the only true ruminants found in South America, where 

 many of the species have comparatively simple antlers, and 

 thus show affinity with the early fossil types, some of 

 which were antlerless. Allied species range through North 

 America, but it is not till the north of that continent is 

 reached that we fiml in the wa2jiti a representative of onr 

 cwn red deer. The red deer group extends through Europe 



FiO. 29. — Skull of tiirathei'i?, from tlie Pliocene of India. 



and a large part of Central Asia, but in India and the 

 Malayan region it is replaced by the rusine deer, like the 

 sambar, in which the antlers (Fig. 30, a) lack the bez-tine 

 of the red deer {ihid, h). Other marked varieties of antler 

 are exhibited by the elk, the fallow deer, and the reindeer; 

 but none of these approach those of the extinct Irish deer 

 (Fig. 2.5), which may have an eleven feet span from tip to 



g2 



