94 THE DARWINIAN THEORY 



The geological history of antlers is of great 

 interest. In the Lower Miocene and earlier 

 deposits no antlers have been found. In the genus 

 Procervulus, from the Middle Miocene, a pair of 

 small, erect, branched, but non-deciduous antlers 

 were present, intermediate in many respects between 

 the antlers of deer and the horns of antelopes. 

 From slightly later deposits a stag (Cervus dicrocerus) 

 has been found with forked deciduous antlers, 

 which, however, do not appear to have had more 

 than two points. In upper Miocene times antlers 

 were more abundant, larger, and more complex ; 

 while from Pliocene deposits very numerous fossils 

 have been obtained, showing a gradual increase in 

 the size of the antlers and the number of their 

 branches, down to the present time. 



Antlers are therefore, geologically considered, very 

 recent acquisitions : at their first appearance they 

 were small, and either simple or branched once 

 only ; while in succeeding ages they gradually in- 

 creased in size and in complexity. The palseonto- 

 logical series thus agrees with the developmental 

 series of stages through which the antlers of a stag 

 pass at the present day, before attaining their full 

 dimensions. 



The Recapitulation Theory, if valid, must apply 

 not merely in a general way to the development of the 

 animal body, but must also hold good with regard to 

 the formation of each organ and system, and with 

 regard to the later as well as the earlier phases of 

 development. Take for example the mode of 

 renewal of nails and of the epidermis generally in 



