NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 431 
agree very Closely with the ground on which they live. Professor 
Hyatt added that he by no means desired to indorse the Darwin- 
ian doctrine of natural selection. A belief in evolution and the 
derivation of all higher forms from lower and simple organisms, 
perhaps from inorganic matter itself, by means of secondary nat- 
ural forces, is perfectly consistent with opposition to the Darwin- 
ian theory. According to this theory, new characteristics and 
therefore new kinds and species of animals arise by the survival 
of the fittest; as in a recent instance cited by the AMERICAN Nart- 
URALIST, where a new race of deer is supposed to be in course of 
‘formation in the Southern Adirondacks. Tn this case certain full- 
grown bucks about thirteen years ago were produced with short, 
stabbing horns like the young deer. These were thus enabled to 
drive away the branching-horned forms during the rutting season, 
and to leave a larger number of descendants. These and their 
descendants, in turn enjoying similar advantages, are, it is stated, 
gradually supplanting the branching-horned deer in this locality. 
The facts have been disputed, and need the confirmation of further 
observation and experience; but they form, perhaps, one of the 
best illustrations of the theory of natural selection ever recorded. 
Assuming, however, that it is true, and that a new species of deer 
is now being evolved in this region, what does natural selection 
really account for? It must account for the preservation and per- 
petuation of the branching-horned variety, as well as the rise of 
the straight-horned. 
The Anoplotherium of the Eocene, which has always been consid- 
ered by Owen and others as the probable ancestor of the Cervide, 
had no horns, even in the adults. The young deer, when it is 
born, has none and the process by which they are acquired takes 
place subsequently. The general characteristics of the deer ant- 
lers of the Miocene and Pliocene were simple, with only one tyne 
or prong like those of the young deer, and the palmate and exten- 
sively pronged were not brought out fully until the post-pliocene. 
To-day a decline seems to be taking place, since neither the rein- 
deer, nor the moose equals the extinct Irish elk in the complexity 
and rise of its horns. 
If Darwinism can account for the propagation of this new race, 
by the advantage which the short stabbing horns gives to the 
bucks, how could any branching antlers ever have arisen from 
the Miocene deer? In accerdance with the theory of natural or 
