284 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



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notes nothing on the present subject save " a dead Situtunga 

 ram that had been killed, apparently by a rival," and exhibited 

 " a deep wound in the side, just behind the ribs.'* In other 

 groups, however, sufficient examples are forthcoming to sub- 

 stantiate the previous statement, varying in extent of information, 

 but valuable in the cumulative effect of their agreement. 



Among the Oxen, the Buffaloes of India and Africa are 

 distinguished by the calibre of their horns no less than by the 

 ferocity of their disposition, and their sexual combats are pro- 

 portionately determined. Sir Samuel Baker tells us that he 

 " frequently witnessed such battles between old bulls," but makes 

 no record of serious injury or death in the result. " In such 

 trials of strength the vanquished party generally retreats at full 

 speed, followed for a certain distance by its adversary, who 

 endeavours to drive his horns into the posterior. This is a 

 difficulty, as the great curvature of the horns renders a direct 

 thrust impossible." On one occasion the fierce antagonists had 

 interlocked their horns, and, ranging side by side in their efforts 

 to pull clear, were killed by the enterprising sportsman with a 

 single bullet. 



In regard to Deer, the remarks of Caton upon the Wapiti 

 confined in his park at Ottawa, Illinois, possess a special interest, 

 because they have particular reference to a question put by Darwin 

 concerning the utility of branched antlers as sexual weapons. 

 After a brief description of the mode of joining battle, and of the 

 care taken to secure accurate information, Caton concludes as 

 follows : — " In none of the battles which have been witnessed in 

 my grounds has either combatant sustained injury, so that 

 I cannot explain the incidents of those which have been accom- 

 panied with fatal results (two cases previously mentioned), but 

 probably some obstacle has intervened which prevented the 

 escape of the vanquished, which has always been effected when 

 the contests have been observed." The same writer was an eye- 

 witness of a "terrific battle" between white-tailed bucks, which 

 lasted for two hours without the animals being once separated," 

 at the close of which, " I could not," he tells us, " detect a scratch 

 upon either sufficient to scrape off the hair, and the only punish- 

 ment suffered was fatigue, and a consciousness of defeat by the 

 vanquished. Parallel with these statements, it is instructive to 

 compare the protective use of antlers in defence, as illustrated by 



