228 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



found at Summerhouse Hill, Cardington. Some massive antlers from 

 that locality are in the Wyatt collection now in the possession of the 

 Corporation of Bedford ; the two largest being — No. 1, width of burr 

 4J in., circumference 12| in., width of beam above the burr 3 in. ; 

 No. 2, width of burr 3| in., circumference 11 in., width of beam 

 above the burr 2f in. Mr. Worthington G. Smith presented me 

 with numerous portions of antlers and other remains that he found 

 during excavations in the waste pits at " Maiden Bower," and at the 

 Blow's Down hut dwellings at Dunstable, which both date from the 

 Bronze Age. None of these bear comparison with the largest of the 

 Glacial Age ; the heaviest measuring : width of burr 3 in., circum- 

 ference 9| in., width of beam above the burr 2| in., above brow tine 

 If in. Fragments of antlers have also been found in association 

 with the Boman occupation in this county, and other finds have been 

 made probably dating a much more recent period. To what century 

 the Bed Deer existed in a wild state in Bedfordshire I am unable to 

 say. Woburn Park, the seat of the Duke of Bedford, is the only 

 place in the county where this animal is preserved. Whitaker,* in 

 1892, gave the number of this Deer at sixty. 



Fallow Deer (Cervus dama). — The former existence of this Deer 

 in a wild state in Bedfordshire rests on the finding of a brow tine 

 portion of an antler, now in the writer's possession, that the late 

 Major W. Cooper-Cooper obtained with Anglo-Saxon remains dug up 

 in a gravel-pit near Fancut, Toddington, and there is little doubt that 

 this portion of antler dates also from that period. At Woburn Park 

 Whitaker f gives the number of this Deer in 1892 as three hundred 

 and eighty, and in Wrest Park, Silsoe, two hundred. On the latter 

 estate at the present time they number about two hundred to two 

 hundred and twenty, but these will cease to exist before the end of 

 the year. 



Beindeer (Bangifer tarandus). — Fossil remains of the Beindeer 

 seem to occur not uncommonly in the Pleistocene gravels of the 

 Ouse Valley in this county. In the Wyatt collection are several 

 portions of antlers of this animal ; they are labelled " Howard's Field, 

 Bedford," another " Bletsoe," and a third " Kempston Boad. Mr. 

 J. Wyatt" \ ; also found Beindeer at Summerhouse Hill, Cardington. 

 Harting,§ quoting probably from the same authority, writes of the 



* ' The Deer Parks and Paddocks of England,' J. Whitaker. 1892. 

 f Loc. cit. 



I ' Quarterly Journal Geological Society,' vol. xx. p. 186 (1864). 

 § ' Extinct British Animals,' J. E. Harting. 1880. 



