282 



American Deer 



ii. The Guazu Group — Sub-Genus Blastoceros 



B/astocerus, Sundevall, K. Vet. Ak. Hand/, for 1844, P- l % 2 (^46), as a 

 sub-genus; Gray, Proc. Zoo/. Soc. 1850, p. 237, Cat. Ungu/ata Brit. Mas. 

 p. 223 (1852), Cat. Ruminants Brit. Mas. p. 87 (1872) ; Brooke, Proc. Zoo/. 

 Soc. 1878, p. 922; Riitimeyer, Abh. schweiz. pal. Ges. vol. viii. p. 49 

 (188 1). 



Blastoceros, Fitzinger, SB. Ak. Wien, vol. lxviii. part i. p. 358 (1873). 



Paraceros, Ameghino, Ma mm. Foss. Repub. Argent, p. 605 (1889) ; 

 see Lvdekker, An. Mas. La Plata — Pal. Argent, vol. ii. p. 80 (1893). 



Antifer, Ameghino, op. cit. p. 610 (1889) ; see Lydekker, op. cit. p. 81 

 (1893). 



Epiearyeeros, Ameghino, op. cit. p. 613 (1889) ; see Lydekker, op. cit. 

 p. 81 (1893). 



Ozotoceros, Ameghino, Rev. Argent. Hist. Nat. vol. i. p. 243 (1891), to 

 replace B/astocerus, Sundevall, on account of being preoccupied by B/astocera, 

 Gerstein, 1856, which is not the case. 



Characters. — Antlers large and complex, without a sub-basal snag, 

 forking in a regularly dichotomous manner, with the upper, or posterior 

 prong more or less exceeding the lower, or anterior one in size. Metatarsal 

 gland and tuft absent. Tail short. Face moderately long ; face-gland well 

 developed, and the gland-pit in the skull rather large and deep. Upper 

 canines generally present in adult males. Size large or rather small. 

 Fawns uniformly coloured or spotted. 



The absence of the metatarsal gland and of a sub-basal snag to the 

 regularly dichotomous antlers are the most easily recognised features of the 

 existing members of this small group. Extinct species occur in the 

 Plistocene deposits of the Argentine pampas, and apparently also in the 

 Pliocene beds of Monte Hermoso, in the same country. The occurrence 

 of such remains in the last-mentioned deposits is of importance as indicat- 

 ing that the brockets are not the ancestral type of the group ; the Monte 

 Hermoso beds having been deposited soon after the union of North with 

 South America, at which time deer of the present, or a nearly allied, type 

 were already in existence. 



Distribution. — The Neotropical region. 



