BABB OUR AND ALLEN — WHITE-TAILED DEER 
75 
*‘lt is safe to say that deer are likely to be found at any time on any key between 
Big Pine Key and Boca Chica and that they are more plentiful now than they were 
twelve to fifteen years ago. A good hunter was known to jump six deer in one 
day on Big Pine Key this last winter, (1920-21), when twelve to fifteen years ago 
it was not uncommon even with good dogs to be unable to jump a deer” there. 
On the three small keys just north of Big Pine, known respectively as Crawl, 
Grassy, and Duck Key, deer are said also to have been found, but none of the 
present-day hunters has ever been able to find deer on Long Key nor are they 
known to have inhabited keys to the northward. 
The hunters believe that these deer have no special season for breeding and 
that their summer coat is. not essentially different from that of winter. They 
inhabit the densest cover of thorns, bushes and palmettos and can only be suc- 
cessfully pursued with dogs to chase the quarry past the waiting hunter stationed 
at some favorable point. After they have been hunted for a few consecutive 
days they go into the extensive prickly-pear hammocks and remain there for 
some time, of course, safe from pursuit. This happened coincident with two 
visits when we were trying for specimens as a result of Cuban hunting parties 
from Key West. 
To one unfamiliar with field conditions in Florida, the very marked faunal 
differences between the southern keys and those extending northeast to the 
nearest portions of the peninsula itself, are almost as striking as they are 
unexpected. These southernmost islands are very different in character from 
those of the chain running northeast from Big Pine, including Boot Key, Grassy 
Key, Metacumbe Key and the extended Key Largo. The last, at its northern 
end, approaches the mainland of the peninsula but is well separated from it by a 
deep channel through which flows a swift current. These northern keys in all 
probability have a somewhat different geologic history and origin from the more 
southern or “lower” keys. The difference in the character of the two groups 
and their possibly independent connection with the mainland is sufficient to 
account for the considerable difference in their flora and fauna. For a most inter- 
esting exposition of the peculiar environmental conditions obtaining in these 
islands the reader is referred to the chapter on “The Florida Keys” in Charles 
Torrey Simpson’s delightful book “In Lower Florida Wilds” (1920). 
Specimens examined . — 
Floeida, Big Pine Key, 3 (2 skins and skulls, and the type skull with head 
skin). 
In the table following are given a few comparative skull measurements of the 
four races here considered. It would seem that after the exhaustive study made 
by Dr. J. C. Phillips (1920) these would be superfluous in the case of the race 
borealis but we have endeavored to select a few adults of each race, that appeared 
of maximum size and strictly comparable. This is of much importance for deer 
do not attain full size until they are several years old, so that cranial comparisons 
are often valueless unless the largest individuals of a series or those of quite 
comparable age are contrasted. For immature animals, however, it is possible 
to make accurate comparisons of several stages, of which we select three, namely: 
(I) , skulls with three upper milk premolars and first permanent molar in place; 
(II) skulls with three milk premolars and two permanent molars in place; (III) 
skulls with three milk premolars and all three permanent molars in place. Deer 
