254 
SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. 
Part II. 
Wapiti deer (Cervus Canadensis) in Judge Caton’s park 
in Ottawa, and several men tried to rescue him, the stag 
never raised his head from the ground ; in fact he kept 
his face almost flat on the ground, with his nose nearly 
between his fore-feet, except when he rolled his head 
to one side to take a new observation preparatory to 
'' a plunge.” In this position the terminal points of 
the horns were directed against his adversaries. ^^In 
rolling his head he necessarily raised it somewhat, 
because his antlers were so long that he could not 
^^roll his head without raising them on one side, while 
'^on the other side they touched the ground.” The 
stag by this procedure gradually drove the party of 
rescuers backwards, to a distance of 150 or 200 feet ; 
and the attacked man w^as killed.^^ 
Although the horns of stags are efficient weapons, 
there can, I think, be no doubt that a single point 
would have been much more dangerous than a branched 
antler ; and J udge Caton, who has had large experi- 
ence with deer, fully concurs in this conclusion. Nor 
do the branching horns, though highly important as a 
means of defence against rival stags, appear perfectly 
well adapted for this purpose, as they are liable to 
become interlocked. The suspicion has therefore crossed 
my mind that they may serve partly as ornaments. 
That the branched antlers of stags, as well as the 
elegant lyrated horns of certain antelopes, with their 
graceful double curvature, (fig. 62), are ornamental 
in our eyes, no one will dispute. If, then, the horns, 
like the splendid accoutrements of the knights of old, 
add to the noble appearance of stags and antelopes, 
they may^have been partly modified for this purpose. 
See a most interesting account in the Appendix to Hon. J. D. 
Caton’s paper, as above quoted. 
