Sedgwick's Deer 241 



Cervus sedgwicki, Lydekker, Cat. Foss. Mamm. Brit. Mas. part ii. p. 93 



(1885). 



Characters. — Antlers very large and complex, giving off a long, 

 upright, forked, sub-basal snag a short distance above the burr, the 

 beam soon after forking dichotomously, the upper prong of the fork 

 again dividing, with one branch simple and the other forked, and the 



Fig. 66. — Skull and Antlers of Sedgwick's Deer. The innermost upright forked prong is the sub-basal 

 snag, a short distance above the origin of which the beam splits into the main fork. In life the 

 lower branch of this fork probably curved forwards. From Riitimeyer. 



lower prong of the main fork also splitting and both its branches 

 dividing. 



In the shorter length of beam between the giving off of the sub-basal 

 snag and the main fork this magnificent species comes nearer to the 

 mule-deer type, although the sub-basal snag is much longer. If the 

 accompanying figure be compared with the front views of the antlers 

 of the Virginian and mule- deer, the homology of the various elements 

 will be clearly evident ; and it is difficult to believe that the two forms 

 are not related. 



Distribution. — England and Italy during the latter part of the Pliocene 

 and early portion of the Plistocene periods, the British remains occurring in 

 the Norfolk forest-bed. 



2 1 



