92 



G. J. de Fejervary: 



secondary dermal bones, but constitute, according toMr. Nitsche, 

 the product of a hyperossification of the frontal bone itself. He 

 writes as follows : ,,Die Geweihe der Cerviden sind bei ihrer 

 erstmaligen Entstehung vom behaarten Integiimente verhüllte 

 Apophysen des Stirnbeines . . . , deren späterhin von dem ver- 

 trocknenden Integumente . . . entblösster und daher absterbender, 

 apicaler Abschnitt . . . sich durch Nekrose von der persistierenden 

 Apophysenbasis, dem Rosenstocke, löst . . . und schliesslich ab- 

 fällt . . . Der schon verloren gegangene apicale Abschnitt, das Erst- 

 lingsgeweih . . . , wird nun unter Überwallung der so entstandenen 

 W'undfläche vom Integumente aus . . . durch einen vom Periost 

 des Rosenstockes ausgehenden Regenerationsprocess . . . unter Zu- 

 fügung der bisher fehlenden Rose . . . .und meist auch unter Zu- 

 fügung neuer Enden ... in hypertropher \Veise ergänzt. Auch diese 

 Neubildung wird nach Vertrocknung und Abstossung des Integu- 

 mentes . . durch Nekrose vom Rosenstocke gelöst und sofort 

 wieder regenerirt: ein W echsel, der rhythmisch durch das ganze 

 Leben des Hirsches fortdauert." 



Thus, according to this author, the secondary exoskeletal os 

 cornu would be absent in the Cervidae. Mr. Gadow combats 

 this opinion. According to him the separate occurrence of the 

 OS cornu is a pathological phenomenon^^), and does not represent, 

 neither ontogenetically nor phylogenetically, the primitive starting 

 point. He homologizes the ,,pedicle and antler" of the Cervidae 

 with the OS cornu, and proves that both the horns and antlers 

 develop in the same way. This os cornu is, however, according 

 to Mr. Gadow, an apophytic, and not epiphytic, portion of the 

 frontal bone itself. 



His investigations clearly demonstrate that the antlers and 

 the osseous cone of the horns present, with respect to their develop- 

 ment, the same essential points and — a stränge fact — are 

 cartilaginously preformed. The Statement that ,, hyaline 

 cartilage, which, together with rapidly proliferating connective 

 tissue, makes up the apical portion of the pedicle and forms the 

 growing point of the future pricket" seems, to my mind, very im- 

 portant, again proving the fact that also dermal bones might be 

 cartilaginously preformed, and thus making, merely on the 

 base of the presence or absence of cartilaginous preforma- 

 tion, an infallible distinction between the ,, cartilage bones" 

 (i. e. those belonging to the chondrocranium) and the ,, dermal 

 bones" rather illusorious. 



Op. cit. p. 63 — 64. — The referenees to the Textfigures coiitained 

 in. Mr. Nitsche's work, are left out in the citation; the omissions are marked 

 by points (...)• 



The .Evohition of Horns and Antlers, Proc. Z. Soc. London, 1002, 

 p. 206-222. p 212. Qfj. ^p. cit. Textfig. 25. 



Prof. Gadow is jDerfectly right in affirming that one will have to 

 get accustomed ,,to the existenee ot cartilage in places where text-books 

 carefully abstain from mentioning it." (Cfr. pp. cit. p. 222). 



