THE GIANT DEER. 31 



Owen mentions that a skull and antlers in the Museum of the Royal College of 

 Surgeons in London weighed 87 lb., and that the average weight of the skull without 

 the antlers or mandible is 5 \ lb. This gives 8 If lb. as the weight of the antlers— an 

 astonishing amount of bony material to be produced annually and discarded. 



(e) Classificatian of Deer Based on the Antlers. 



Brooke's classification of the Cervidse based on the structure of the manus and 

 pes was universally accepted till Cameron 1 in 1892 proposed to replace it by one 

 based on the antlers. He divided the Cervidse into three sections : 



1. For the Reindeer with antlers in both sexes. 



2. For the Elk with laterally extended antlers. 



3. For the remainder with erect or suberect antlers found only in the male. This 



group he further subdivided into — 



(a) A group including the typical Old World Deer and the Wapiti, with a 



normal brow tine springing from the outer side of the beam, and — 

 (6) A group including the typical New World Deer (except the Wapiti)., the 

 Roe and one or two others. In these the first tine is considered not 

 to be comparable to the brow tine as it arises from the inner side of 

 the beam. 

 Cameron's classification is accepted by Lydekker. 



Pocock, from a study of the antler development in an American Deer (Odocoileus), 

 shows that the first tine arises externally, but gradually assumes an apparently more 

 internal position as growth proceeds. Hence he concludes that the term " brow tine " 

 is equally applicable in Old World and American Deer. 



c. Dentition (Plate II, and Text-figs. 13, 14). 



The teeth in the Cervidae, as in all Ruminants, are very uniform in number, and 

 those of the Irish Giant Deer conform to the usual formula of— 



. 0—1 3 3 



l. c. pm. - m. -. 



3 1^33 



The molar and premolar teeth are much less markedly hypsodont than in cattle, 

 but have the normal selenodont grinding surfaces characteristic of Ruminants. Owing 

 to their large size they are liable to be confused with those of Bos, but Owen points 

 out the useful distinguishing feature, that in both upper and lower molars a small 

 accessory column on the inner side in the groove between the two main lobes of the 

 tooth is confined to the base of the groove in Megaceros while in Bovidse it is much 

 longer. 



1 ' Field,' 1892, pp. 265, 703, 741, 860. 



'5 1 



