256 
SEXUAL SELECTION: MAMMALS. 
Part IL 
American Journal says, that lie has hunted for the 
last twenty-one years in the Adirondacks, where the 
Cervus Virginianus abounds. About fourteen years ago 
he first heard of sjgihe-horn huchs. These became from 
year to year more common ; about five years ago he 
shot one, and subsequently another, and now they are 
frequently killed. The spike-horn differs greatly 
from the common antler of the (7. Virginianus, It 
consists of a single spike, more slender than the antler, 
and scarcely half so long, projecting forward from the 
brow, and terminating in a very sharp point. It gives 
a considerable advantage to its possessor over the 
‘^common buck. Besides enabling him to run more 
swiftly through the thick woods and underbrush 
(every hunter knows that does and yearling bucks 
^^run much more rapidly than the large bucks when 
armed with their cumbrous antlers), the spike-horn 
^^is a more effective weapon than the common antler. 
With this advantage the spike-horn bucks are gaining 
upon the common bucks, and may, in time, entirely 
supersede them in the Adirondacks. Undoubtedly 
‘Hhe first spike-horn buck was merely an accidental 
‘‘freak of nature. But his spike-horns gave him an 
“ advantage, and enabled him to propagate his pecu- 
“liarity. His descendants, having a like advantage, 
“have propagated the peculiarity in a constantly 
“increasing ratio, till they are slowly crowding the 
“ antlered deer from the region they inhabit.” 
Male quadrupeds which are furnished with tusks 
use them in various ways, as in the case of horns. 
The boar strikes laterally and upwards ; the musk- 
deer with serious effect downwnrds.^^ The walrus,. 
23 « rjy^-^Q American Naturalist/ Dec. 1869, p. 552. 
Pallas, ‘ Spicilegia Zoologica/ fasc. xiii. 1779, p. 18. 
