32 
MA^rMALS OF LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND. 
numerous tlian at Bradgate Park, where it breeds. Nothing apparently is known 
of its introduction, and it is extremely probable that the Deer now to be seen 
there may be the descendants of ancient herds. Some interesting figures of 
these Deer are given in a book written about 1840, by a Mr. John 3Iartin, of 
Steward’s Hay, entitled ‘ Sketches of Deer, in Bradgate Park, by an Amateur.’ 
A fine specimen of a “ Eoyal Stag” was shot at Bradgate in 1881, expressly for the 
IMuseum, for which it was subsequently mounted. Horns and bones, those of 
the limbs especially, of an ancient race of C. elaphus, much larger than cor- 
responding bones and horns of the existing type, are occasionally found. I had 
remarked at p. 250, ‘Zoologist,’ 1885 : — “These, if not Pre-Historic, are certainly 
of great antiquity, probably contemporary with those of the Wolf and Wild Boar.” 
Since then, however, I have given some attention to the question, and some 
discoveries at Barrow-on-Soar and elsewhere (noted in ‘ Transactions Leicester 
Lit. and Phil. Soc.,’ Oct., 1888, pp. 11-19), led me to submit those specimens 
to Professor W. Boyd Dawkins, who replied : — “ The large antlers are nearly all 
of the peat-bog, Pre-Historic, type.” This opinion was valuable as retrograding 
the antiquity of these, of which the Museum possesses, through the generosity 
of the Messrs. Ellis, in addition to those mentioned, op. cit. : — Five other cut 
antlers, and portion of skull, with antlers cut off, from Barrow-on-Soar, and, I 
believe, from the same refuse-pit. 
Portion of shed right antler (broken), found at the Abbey IMeadow, at a 
depth of 17 ft., 18th May, 1876, measures along beam to where broken (74 inches 
above tres-tine), 214 inches; circumference above burr, 8| ; where broken, 6 ; 
between bez and tres-tines, 6 ; condition intermediate. A perfect shed left antler 
of eight tines, found at the Abbey IMeadow, 28th IMay, 1881, and presented by 
Mr. G. H. Nevinson, measures, from burr to end of beam, 2 ft. 3 in. ; along 
curve, 2 ft. 9 in. ; inside curve of brow-tine, 104 inches ; bez, 9 ; tres, 7 ; circum- 
ference above burr, 7J ; between bez and tres, 54; below crown, 7 ; crown (of five 
tines), from point to point, 14. I’ortion of a fine shed right antler (broken), 
found in a meadow near Hitchcock’s mill. North Bridge, at a depth of 8 ft., 8th 
June, 1883, and presented by Mr. B. Burgess, measures, from burr to end of 
broken beam, 22 inches ; outside curve of brow-tine, 13|; inside, 11^ ; length of 
bez (broken at extremity), 10 ; tres absent ; circumference above burr, 9 ; between 
bez and tres, 6 ; where broken, 6^. This was compared with the right antler of 
a Wapiti measuring 28 inches along beam to first spring of crown or palmation, 
with an additional 17 inches from thence to top of longest point = 45 ; circum- 
ference above burr 84. A very fine left antler of a Scotch Stag, procured 
purposely for comjiarison, measured along beam, from burr to spring of crown, 
19 J inches, with an additional 13 to top of longest point, ^ 32^. Circumference 
above burr, 7§ ; midway between bez and tres 5g. 
These measurements shew the local specimen to be much larger than fine 
Scotch antlers, and to exceed Bradgate specimens, whose burrs measure, normally. 
