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V. On a Specimen of Cervus belgrandi lart. (C. verticornis Dawk.) from the Forest- 

 Bed of East Anglia. By Sidney F. Harmer, Sc.D., F.B.S., Superintendent of 

 the University Museum of Zoology, Camlridge? 



1 



Keceived April 24, read June 6, 1899. 



[Plate XXI.] 



XHE specimen which forms the subject of the present paper is from the Forest-Bed 

 series of Pakefield, near Lowestoft, where it was found as a result of the great 

 destruction of the cliff due to the high tides of November 1897. The pieces were 

 obtained from the men who had dug it out by my assistant, Ernest Lane, to whom is 

 due the credit of recognizing the importance of the specimen, which is now in the 

 University Museum of Zoology at Cambridge, 



I have been unable to find a record of any specimen belonging to this species which 

 will compare with the present one in completeness. The posterior part of the skull, 

 including the whole of the brain-case, is in excellent condition. The anterior parts, 

 from the orbital region, are wanting. The left antler is nearly complete, and the parts 

 which are missing are to some extent represented in the right antler, a large part of 

 which is also present. The atlas and axis were found associated with the skull. 



The specimen throws considerable light on the real characters of the antlers of the 

 form usually known as Cervus verticornis ; and in particular it demonstrates the 

 incorrectness of the diagnosis which is usually given of this species. C. verticornis was 

 originally described by Professor W. Boyd Dawkins ^, and a fuller account of it was 

 given by the same author in a later publication ^. The species is commonly represented 

 by basal parts of the antlers only, in collections from the Forest-Bed, and is readily 

 recognized by its massive cylindrical beam, with the brow-tine (usually situated about 

 2 inches above the burr) curving forwards and downwards. The restorations given by 

 Boyd Dawkins indicate an antler which slightly widens out immediately above the 

 back-tine, and ends in a short bifurcated tip, which was not, however, really represented 

 in any of the specimens. Professor Dawkins's opinion, stated in his fuller account, that 

 he cannot recognize any affinity between the antlers of C. verticornis and those of the 



1 The abstract of this paper which appears on pp. 715, 716 of the ' Proceedings ' for 1899 was published 

 without giving me an opportunity of correcting the proof. The locality of the fossil and my conclusion with 

 regard to the nomenclature are incorrectly stated in it. — S. F. H., Nov. 13, 1899. 



2 " On the Cervidffi of the Forest-Bed of Norfolk and Suffolk," Quarb. J. Geol. Soc. xxviii. (1872), p. 406. 

 ' " British Pleistocene Mammalia. — VI. British Pleistocene Cervidse," Palaeontograpbical Society, 1887. 



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