240 Extinct Group 



Cervus borbonicus, Deperet {ex Bravard), Bull. Soc. geol. France, ser. 3, 

 vol. xii. p. 260 (1 884). 



Characters. — Antlers of medium size with the beam rising for a short 

 distance straight till it gives off a short sub-basal tine, then curving strongly 

 and continuing undivided for a considerable length, after which it forks 

 dichotomously, and each prong of the fork thus formed again divides. In 

 younger specimens the two prongs of the main fork are undivided ; but in 

 very old individuals the complexity is greater. 



I believe that C. ardeus, which was founded on an antler in which the 

 beam palmates and divides into three tines, instead of forking dichotomously, 

 is merely a somewhat abnormal form of the antlers described as C. ramosus. 

 There appear no sufficient characters by which the C. borbonicus of M. 

 Deperet, which is the same as the C. cylindroceros of Professor Dawkins, 

 differs from immature antlers of the present form. While C. ramosus and 

 C. ardeus are assigned by M. Deperet to a separate extinct group (Polycladus), 

 C. borbonicus {cylindroceros) is referred both by him and Professor Dawkins to 

 the rusine group, with which it has obviously no affinity. M. Deperet 

 has suggested some relationship between the present species and both the 

 American deer and Sedgwick's deer. 



By comparing the figures here given with those of the antlers of the 

 Virginian deer in Fig. 69, it will be seen that the two agree in the position 

 and size of the sub-basal snag, in the curvature and length of the beam 

 before forking, and also in the splitting of both prongs of the main fork ; 

 and they may therefore be regarded as occupying analogous positions in 

 their respective genera. 



Distribution. — France, and perhaps other parts of Europe, during the 

 latter portion of the Pliocene period, the chief localities being Arde, 

 Bourbon, and Perrier, in the Department of Puy-de-D6me. 



2. Sedgwick's Deer — Anoglochis sedgwicki [Extinct] 



Cervus (Eucladoceros) sedgwickii, Falconer, Pal. Mem. vol. ii. p. 472 

 (1868) ; Deperet, Bull. Soc. geol. France, ser. 3, vol. xii. p. 259 (1884). 



Cervus dicranius, Riitimeyer (ex Nesti), Abh. scliweiz. pal. Ges. vol. vii. 

 plate i (1880) x. p. 106 (1883). 



