American Deer 243 



sub-basal snag ; and adding that the fossil antlers curved forwards some- 

 what after the manner of those of the living species. In a restoration 

 subsequently attempted they are, however, represented as inclining back- 

 wards. 1 About 27 inches is the length of the largest antler. 



Distribution. — France, England, and probably other parts of Europe, 

 during the latter part of the Pliocene and the early portion of the 

 Plistocene period ; the type specimens being from Peyrolles in the Puy- 

 de-D6me, and the English examples occurring in the Norfolk forest-bed. 



Fig. 67. — Restoration of Antlers of Five-tined Deer, rf, sub-basal snag ; t>, lower prong of main fork ; 



c, upper prong do. ; d, terminal tines. 



XII. The American Deer — Genus Mazama 



Mazama, Rafinesque, Amer. Month. Mag. vol. i. p. 44 (18 17). 



Characters. — Lateral metacarpal bones as in Rangifer, that is, with their 

 lower extremities remaining. Antlers very variable in size, the beam 

 forming a marked angle with the plane of the face, and without a 

 brow-tine ; when consisting of more than a simple undivided prong, 

 dichotomously forked, frequently with a sub-basal snag, and always with 

 the lower, or anterior prong of the main fork projected from the front 

 edge of the beam, in some cases the lower, in others the upper (posterior), 

 and in others both prongs again dividing. Muzzle with a large naked 



1 Dawkins, Early Man in Britain, p. 86, fig. 18 (1880). 



