Extinct Species 291 



to graze in the evening. Their alarm-cry is a low, whistling bark. When 

 a hind with her fawn is surprised by hunters, she stands stock-still until 

 her offspring has stolen quietly away and concealed itself, after which she 

 moves off in the opposite direction, at first slowly, and sometimes even 

 with a limping gait, in order to draw away the hunters from the hiding- 

 place of her young one. 



In certain parts of Brazil this deer is known as the guazuti, but in 

 Uruguay, where it has now become very scarce, it is termed gama. If 

 taken sufficiently young, it becomes excessively tame, wandering about an 

 estancia among the men, horses, cattle, and dogs with the most complete 

 unconcern. The presence of strange men or dogs at once, however, 

 causes alarm. In the domesticated state, it will eat almost any kind of 

 vegetable food, either fresh or cooked ; and, like most of the deer tribe, 

 displays great partiality for salt. Its speed is considerable, and it requires 

 a good horse to overtake it ; by the natives it is captured either with the 

 bolas, or, less commonly, with the lasso. 



3. The Lujan Marsh-Deer — Mazama brachyceros [Extinct] 



Cervus brachyceros, Gervais and Ameghino, Mamm. Foss. Anier. Sud. 

 p. 126 (1880). 



Cervus lujanensis, Ameghino, Diagnosis Mam. Fos. Near. p. 12 (1888), 

 Mam. Fos. Re pub. Argent, p. 603 (1889). 



Cervus palaoplatensis, Ameghino, op. cit. p. 13 (1888), and 604 (1889). 



Cariacus brachyceros, Lydekker, An. Mus. ha Plata — Pal. Argent, vol. 

 ii. p. 79 (1893). 



Characters. — There are several species of extinct deer from the 

 Plistocene deposits of Buenos Aires more or less nearly allied to the marsh- 

 deer, but with more complicated antlers, some of which may be noticed 

 here. In the present species the antlers are very large, with the posterior 

 prong of the main fork greatly exceeding the anterior one in length and 

 complexity, and thus to a great extent obscuring the dichotomous forking. 

 In adult antlers, of which the inner view of a specimen from the left side 

 is shown in the accompanying figure, the front or lower prong of the 

 main fork is simply bifurcated, but the hinder prong divides into no less 



