Extinct Muntjacs 217 



those of the Old World at a comparatively early date, although it is very 

 questionable whether both series could have independently acquired the 

 extraordinary peculiarity of the deciduous antler." 



When treating of Cosoryx, they observe that " both Blastomeryx and 

 Cosoryx are probably to be derived from the species referred to the former 

 genus which occur in the John Day beds, but there is no form yet known 

 in the White River which could have given rise to the John Day 

 ruminants. The latter are most probably descended from some Palceomeryx 

 ( = Dremotherium) of the Old World which migrated to this continent." We 

 have thus, even on this view, an original Old World origin for all the 

 American deer. 



1. Hensel's Muntjac — Dremotherium furcatum [Extinct) 



Palceomeryx scheuchzeri, Meyer, Neues Jahrb. Min. 1 838, p. 41 3, in part. 



Prox furcatus, Hensel, Zeitschr. deutsch. geol. Ges. vol. xi. p. 278 (1859). 



Palceomeryx furcatus, Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus. part ii. 

 p. 120 (1885) ; Schlosser, Morphol. Jahrb. vol. xii. p. 68 (1886). 



Characters. — This is a large species from the Miocene beds of Bavaria 

 and France characterised by possessing antlers divided into a long fork 

 immediately above the incipient burr. Apparently the lateral metacarpals 

 are wanting. Dr. Schlosser remarks that this species is the earliest antlered 

 deer, the simply forked antlers being never shed and covered during life 

 with skin. Owing to the apparent absence of the lateral metacarpals, the 

 species cannot be the ancestor of any of the existing deer. 



2. Kaup's Muntjac — Dremotherium anoceros [Extinct) 



Cervus anocerus, Kaup, Archiv. Mineral, vol. vi. p. 217 (1833). 

 Cervus dicranoceros, Kaup, op. cit. p. 219 (1833). 

 Cervus trigonoceros, Kaup, op. cit. p. 221 (1833). 

 Dicrocerus anocerus, Gaudry, Les Enchainements, etc. p. 84 (1878). 

 Cervulus (?) dicranoceros, Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mus. part ii. 

 p. 117(1885). 



Characters. — This species, of which the remains occur typically in the 

 Pliocene strata of Eppelsheim, Hessen Darmstadt, appears closely allied to 



2 F 



