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Show 364 MR. LYDEKKER ON AN ANTLER FROM ASIA MINOR. [May 6, the same specimen is alluded to in the following words:-"At the village of Jarpuz, at the foot of the Bimboghas Mountains near Albistan, Danford obtained from a peasant a very remarkable Deer's antler, in either a subfossil or a greatly weathered condition ; and he saw another similar specimen in the same locality. When he exhibited this antler at a meeting of the Society last year there was some difference of opinion as to whether it was or was not an abnormal specimen of Cervus elaphus; but as we are ourselves strongly of opinion that it cannot be referred to any known recent Deer, we reserve its description for another opportunity." Recently Mr. Danford has presented this interesting specimen to the British Museum, and, at the request of Mr. O. Thomas, I have undertaken an examination, the results of which are now laid before the Society. I may say, first of all, that m y conclusions differ from those arrived at by Messrs. Danford and Alston, and that the specimen, in m y judgment, is nothing more than a very abnormal antler of a Red Deer. There is nothing in the condition of the specimen to suggest fossilization, although it has evidently been exposed for a considerable period to the action of the atmosphere. This antler (Plate X X X . fig. 1) belongs to the right side, and is perfect, with the exception of the base, which has been longitudinally split, so as to carry away the brow- and bez-tynes. It is that of an animal nearly or quite as large as the Maral, the beam heing very stout and as much as two and a half feet in length. Unfortunately the imperfect condition of the base renders it impossible to be certain that both a brow- and a bez-tyne were present, but from the presence of a prominence some distance above the burr corresponding to the point of origin of a bez-tyne, I am inclined to consider that both these tynes may have been present, although, as is not uncommonly the case, they must have originated very close together. Above the point of origin of the presumed bez-tyne there is an almost cylindrical and nearly straight beam extending, without any trace of a trez-tyne, for a distance of two feet. Beyond this point the beam suddenly expands into a crown, which is imperfectly palmated, consisting of a stout cylindrical anterior tyne, of a median palmation with five snags, and of a somewhat flattened posterior tyne terminating in two snags. The whole of the crown forms, so to speak, one side of a cup, so that no true cup occurs. At first sight this antler looks utterly unlike that of a Red Deer, but further comparison shows that it may be readily derived from the more normal type. Thus, if I am right in considering that both a brow- and bez-tyne were developed, we have one very strong point in favour of this view. Next, if the crown be compared with antlers like the specimens in the Geological Department of the British Museum (No. M . 392) from an Irish lake, figured in Owen's 'British Fossil Mammals and Birds/ p. 472, fig. 196, it will be found that the palmation of the crown is very similar in the two, if we remove the tyne forming the external portion of the cup in the Irish specimen. A much more striking resemblance is, however, presented by three recent detached antlers in the Museum, some at least of which were |