18 PLEISTOCENE MAMMALIA. 



Pohlig's table of affinities of the Giant Deer and its allies, as quoted in an 

 abbreviated form by Hescheler (120), is as follows (the names in brackets are 

 those of related forms not in the table as given by Hescheler) : 



Giant Deer Group. 

 C. (Euryceros) hibernicus. 



C. (Euryceros) italics. 



C. (Euryceros) germanice. 

 (including C. ruffi). 



Elk and Allied Groups. Fallow Deer Group. 



C. (Euryceros) belgrandi. 



(also C. carnutorum, C. verticornis, 



and 0. dawlinsi). 



.1 

 Cervus dicranius (and C. broivni) 



V. DESCRIPTION OF THE SKELETON. 

 a. The Skull (Plates I and II). 



The characters of the skull in the Cervidge are very constant. In the Irish Giant 

 Deer, as in others, there is a prominent occipital crest, and the face is less sharply 

 bent down on the basicranial axis than in many Artiodactyls. The parietal com- 

 pletely fuses with its fellow at an early age. The posterior half of the united frontals 

 has a longitudinal ridge which, as Owen points out, bears some resemblance to the 

 median prominence of the Giraffe. There is a deep depression, the suborbital or 

 lachrymal fossa, in the lachrymal bone, which is large and takes a considerable part 

 in the formation of the side of the face in front of the orbit. The post-orbital bar is 

 complete, and the orbit is prominent and nearly circular. There are conspicuous 

 supraorbital foramina. A vacuity, variable in size, occurs between the anterior end 

 of the frontal and the lachrymal, partly bounded in front by the nasal and maxilla. 

 The premaxilla is a v-like bone owing to the large size of the anterior palatine foramen. 

 The nasal process of the premaxilla does not reach the frontal. The posterior palatine 

 foramen is very small. The paroccipital process is long. The external auditory 

 meatus is conspicuous. 



There are certain differences between the male and female crania in addition to 

 those directly concerned with the antlers. In the male there is a ridge crossing the 

 posterior part of the frontal, which is lacking in the female. On the other hand, the 

 median longitudinal ridge on the frontals in the female is far more conspicuous than 

 in the male. The condyles are smaller in the female than in the male. 



