ORDER UNGULATA. 



1339 



in the Lower Pliocene ; at the present day it ranges throughout the 

 Palsearctic region, but is unknown in the Ethiopian region and the 

 greater part of America. This genus, as we have already observed, 

 belongs to the Plesiometacarpalian section ; the antlers may be of 



i^y 



Fig. 1214. — a, Antler of Cer~z>uhis (?) dicranoceros — Pliocene ; B, Antler of Cervus ftardinensis 

 — Pliocene ; c, Antler of the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus) in the second year ; d, Antler of the 

 same in its fully-grown condition ; e, Antler and bony pedicle of the frontal bone of the Muntjak 

 (Cervulus muntjak) ; f, Antler of the Fallow Deer (Cervus dama). 



extreme complexity ; and the hinder molars are either brachy- or 

 hypsodont, there being frequently an inner accessory column in the 

 upper true molars. 



The genus is divided into a number of groups, of which the distribution 

 can only be briefly noticed. The most aberrant is the Tetraceroti?ie 

 group, formed by Cervus tetraceros of the French Pliocene, in which the 

 antlers approximate to those of Cariacus. The Axi?ie group, now con- 

 fined to the Oriental region, in which the molars are more hypsodont 

 than usual, and the antlers are rounded and comparatively simple, is 

 represented by several species, such as C. pardinensis (fig. 12 14, b), in the 

 Pliocene of Europe, while the living C. axis occurs in the Pleistocene of 

 Madras. The Oriental Rucervine group has a representative in C. siva- 

 lensis, of the Pliocene of India ; while the allied Rusine group, of the 

 same region, in which the antlers are still comparatively simple, and 

 with their beam often strongly grooved, is known in a fossil state by the 

 remains of existing species from the Pleistocene of India. In the Ela- 

 phine group, which includes the Canadian Wapiti (C. canadensis), the Red 

 Deer (C. elaphus) of Europe and North Africa, together with some large 

 species from the Palsearctic region, the antlers (fig. 12 14, c, D), although 

 still rounded, are often cupped at their summits, and carry a second, 

 or bez-tine, immediately above the brow-tine. In this group remains 

 referable to the existing Red Deer {C. elaphus) are of common occurrence 

 in the Pleistocene of Europe. Some of the fossil antlers and jaws indi- 

 cate, however, much larger animals than any Red Deer now existing, 



