242 General Notes. [ April, 
the changes increase in intensity as we travel westward. I do not know 
how these facts would hold through a large series of specimens; I have 
had an opportunity of comparison only with a limited number of speci- 
mens. The wide distribution of the crab, as is the case with all other 
forms of life similarly diffused, has had a tendency to preserve the 
species intact and to prevent a wide divergence from the primitive type. 
Those natural climatic laws which operate with the greatest intensity on 
those forms which are confined to restricted habitats are in this case 
inoperative. — Tuos. H. Streets, M. D., U. S. N 
NOTE ON THE DEFORMED ANTLER OF A Deer, — Dr. W. J. Hoff- 
man, of Reading, Pa., sends me the accompanying figure and description 
of a malformation of the antler of a deer, probably a variety of Cariacus 
Virginianus. The specimen is said to have been obtained in California 
some years ago, and is now in the possession of a gunsmith in Reading. 
(Fig. 30.) DEFORMED ANTLER OF A DEER. 
The figure is taken from the right antler, viewed in position to occasion 
the least foreshortening of the supernumerary tine. It is drawn on & scale 
of one-tenth. The tips of the extra prongs are about twenty-six inches 
apart ; distance between their bases, twenty-two inches. Although the 
various malformations of antlers are almost endless, yet each one has 1ts 
own interest as an item in the history of the subject; and the facility of 
pictorial illustration of this class of objects renders extended ney 
tion unnecessary. — ELLIOTT Cours. i : 
Ture BLACK SQUIRREL. — A female specimen of this species sit 
rus niger) of the exact color of the mink, the tail hairs light ochreish a 
the ends, was shot at Rodney, C. W., October 20th, by Mr. James Dela- 
ney, of Buffalo. The specimen is in the collection of the Buffalo Soci- 
ety of Natural Sciences, and it is remarkable for its extraordinary page 
which is precisely that of the mink instead of the usual black of the 
species. — A. R. GROTE. : 
