Common Fallow Deer 1 29 



border ; and in the fifth season the antlers have attained nearly their full 

 dimensions, although the palmation and its posterior snags do not reach their 

 complete development till the succeeding season. The antlers are shed 

 somewhat earlier in the spring than those of the red deer. 



Mr. Rowland Ward gives the following dimensions of fallow deer 

 antlers : — 



Length on 



Basal 



t T T P i 



Spread 



Number of 



Width of 



Outer Curve. 



1 irrumfprpncp 







Points. 



Palmation. 



30 



4f 





261 



10-9 



4* 



2 9h 



5 



17 



28I 



14-13 



74 



29 



4i 



3°i 



24i 



10- 1 1 



5* 



281 



4 



*4* 



26 



IO-I I 



6 



27I 



5 



2 °i 





13-7 



34. 





4 



23 



? 



10-8 



? 





3i 



12 



i7* 



7-10 



? 



2 61 



4i 



23^ 



20I 



7-9 



si 



26 



5 



20f 



23I 



10-10 



4* 





? 



? 



26 



? 



5i 





4i 



26 



? 



8-8 



5* 



2 5 



4 



2 4 f 



25f 



1 1-10 



5t 



The fallow deer of Epping Forest, which all belong to the uniformly 

 brown breed and have reverted to an almost wild state, are remarkable for 

 the narrowness of the palmation of the antlers, and since the same condition 

 obtains in those of the skeleton of a wild specimen from Asia Minor in the 

 British Museum, it might seem that this is the original form, and that the 

 great width characteristic of the antlers of most British park herds is due to 

 high feeding. But their dark pelage indicates that the Epping herd is a 

 specialised breed ; and a pair of antlers in the palaeontological gallery of the 

 British Museum (No. M. 4104) obtained from Clacton, Essex, and said to 

 be from a deposit of the polished stone age, are as broad as those of any 

 modern park herd. 



Distribution. — Southern Europe, namely Greece, Spain, Portugal, Ana- 

 tolia, Rhodes, and Sardinia ; parts of Asia Minor, Northern Palestine, and 

 North- Western Africa. In a semi-domesticated state in Great Britain, the 

 south of Sweden, Italy, and Tasmania. Fossil in the Plistocene deposits 

 of the Gibraltar caverns. 



With regard to the occurrence of the species in North Africa, the 



s 



