404 W. BOYD DAWKINS ON THE DEER OF THE 



Palais des Beaux Arts at Lyons, under the care of my friend Dr. 

 Lortet. In Germany the same form may be recognized under the 

 name of Prox furcatus of Hensel, from the Miocene of Steinheim. 



The simple bifurcating type of antler is met with also in the 

 Upper Miocenes of Eppelsheim, considered by Prof. Gaudry to be 

 older than those of Mont Leberon and Cucuron, in the Deer named 

 by Dr. Kaup * C. anoceros and C. dicranoceros, which seems to me 

 to be an older variety of the same form. In these the fork of the 

 antler is further removed from the burr than in the Dicroceros ele- 

 gans, and is so far therefore more differentiated. Closely allied to 

 them is the Cervus australis of De Serresf , from the Lower Pliocene 

 strata of Montpellier, which is the last fossil representative of Deer 

 of this peculiar type in the European Tertiaries. 



The difference between these antlers is so very slight that I feel 

 inclined to view their possessors as homologous species, using the 

 term so happily employed by Dr. Heer to denote a lineal ancestry. 

 In the Dicroceros of the Middle Miocenes we find the antler at a 

 minimum of development, consisting merely of a forked crown 

 springing directly from the burr, while in the Deer of the Upper 

 Miocene the forked crown is separated from the burr by a short 

 beam ; and this form is repeated in the Lower Pliocene C. australis. 

 The Middle Miocene type is preserved among the existing Deer by 

 the Muntjak, or Cervulus, of the oriental region of Asia. 



B. Cervus Matheroni (Gervais). (Fig. 1.) 



C. Matheroni, Gervais, Paleont. 1859, p. 149 ; Gaudry, Animaux 

 fossiles de Mont Leberon, 4to, p. 65, pi. 13. 

 C. Bravardi, Brit. Mus. Cat. no. 34623. 



The Cervus Matheroni of the Upper Miocenes of Cucuron and 

 Mont Leberon is considered by Profs. Gervais and Gaudry to belong 

 to the same division of round- antlered Deer as the Axis. It is, 

 however, certain, from the examination of the nearly perfect antlers 

 (fig. 1) in the British Museum, and their comparison with those 

 figured by Prof. Gaudry, that its affinities are rather with the 

 Capreoli. The specimen termed C. Bravardi in the British Museum 

 is the type selected for publication by MM. Pomel and Bravard in a 

 work which, unfortunately, still remains unpublished. 



Definition. — The characters of the two antlers (fig. 1), which be- 

 long to the same individual, are as follows : — Pedicle moderate, round; 

 antler erect, deeply grooved, four-pointed at most ; burr (A) at right 

 angles to long axis of antler and stout ; second tyne, D, given off 

 nearly at right angles to beam, oval, waved, upturned at tip ; third 

 tyne, E, upturned, round, and at acute angles to beam ; crown, CF, 

 small and two-pointed, palmated. 



* Kaup, 'Les Oss.foss. de Darmstadt ;' andKarsten, 'Archiv fiir Mineralogie,' 

 vi. p. 217. 



t Gervais, Paleont. p. 151, pi. vii. fig. 1 ; Marcel des Serres, ' Cav. de Lunel- 

 Viel,' p. 230. 



