ORDER UNGULATA. 



341 



is bent sharply downwards. The last group which it is necessary to 

 mention here is the Megacerotine, which contains only the Irish Deer 

 {Cervus giganteus, fig. 121 5), characterised by its enormous palmated 

 antlers (fig. 1216), which diverge at right angles from the plane of the 

 frontals, and have a distinct brow- {Br) and bez- {Bz) tine, and a small 

 posterior tine {PT) on the opposite side of the beam to the bez-tine. 

 Remains of this fine species are found in the Pleistocene of Northern 

 Europe, and are especially abundant in the bogs of Ireland, where speci- 

 mens have been found with a spread of more than eleven feet between 

 the tips of the antlers. 



Passing to the Telemetacarpalian genus Rangifer, which is at once 

 characterised by the peculiar form of the antlers and their presence 

 in both sexes, we find remains of the existing Reindeer (R. tarandus), 



Fig. 1216. — Skull and antlers of Cervu s giganteus. Reduced. Br, Brow-, Bz, Bez-, PT, 

 Posterior tine. (After Scott.) 



now confined to the higher latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, 

 abundant in the Pleistocene of a large portion of Europe. In Alces 

 the Elk, or Moose (A. machlis), of the northern parts of Europe and 

 America, occurs in the Pleistocene of the same regions ; while an ex- 

 tinct species has been described from the Norfolk Forest-bed. The 

 antlers (fig. 1217) have no bez-, and apparently no brow-tine, but 

 are divided into an anterior forked branch (A) and a posterior pal- 

 mated one (R). A very remarkable form from the Pleistocene of 

 North America, described under the name of Cervakes, appears to 

 connect Alces with Cervus, although it belongs clearly to the Tele- 

 metacarpalian section. Thus the antlers (fig. 12 18) are superiorly 

 divided into an anterior (A) and posterior (P) branch ; but below 

 the latter there occur two tines {Bz and PT), which Dr Scott 

 regards as probably corresponding to the bez- and posterior tines 



