1841.] true Sidg, or Elaphoid form of Cervus, 749 



studs in that province, and who assured him, that the specimen by no 

 means represented one of the largest of the Stags still found in that 

 country, and hoped that he would be able to send one still more 

 considerable. The circumference of the burr was eleven inches and a 

 quarter, (Rheinland measure,) and of the beam, above the basal tines, 

 nine inches and a quarter. Extreme expanse, measured outside, five 

 feet, and the innermost tips were three feet and half asunder. 

 Length of the right horn, following the curvature, four feet from 

 burr to summit."* The character of these antlers is absolutely that of 

 the British Red Deer, but the size equals the Wapiti ; and it is strange 

 that so grand a species, for such it must be, should still remain to be 

 investigated and described. I am inclined to suspect that to this 

 *' Giant Stag" must be referred an extraordinarily fine pair of *' German 

 Stag horns," that have been hung up, as I understand for more than 

 thirty years, in front of a cutler's shop, in Great Turnstile, London. 

 These measure forty-one inches over the curvature, and ten inches 

 and a quarter round at base, above the burr ; the crown of one, in parti- 

 cular, is very fine ; and of numerous other Stag antlers, imported 

 from Germany, to be manufactured into knife handles, &c., not any 

 approached to these dimensions. The antlers of the common Euro- 

 pean Stag, or British Red Deer, seldom exceed three feet in length, 

 and are generally under ; and the animal scarcely stands above three 

 feet and a half high at the back ; but its general form is more elegant 

 than that of any other species of the group with which I am ac- 

 quainted. 



( To he continued,) 



Explanation of the Plate. 



Figure 3 represents a Wapiti Stag's antler, a and b indicating the 

 two basal tines or branches, or the " brow and bez antlers" of writers 

 on venerie ; c, the median tine, or " royal antler ;" and the portion above 

 d, d, the " crown, or sur-royal ;" e, is a mere snag, of very common 

 occurrence in this particular species, and not very unfrequently met 

 with in the Axine group of Deer, where it is always thus directed 



* For these particulars I am indebted to the kindness of Colonel Hamilton Smith, 

 to whom a copy of the work was presented by the author, who was one of the chief 

 observators of the game and forests of the Elector of Hesse. 



