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Show 16 MR. A. H. GARROD ON THE [Jan. 2, enlarged (fig. 25. 5). In the Elaphine Deer this is carried further, the continuation of the beam C being divided terminally into many points (fig. 25. 6) in C. elaphus, C. canadensis, C. maral, and C. cashmeerianus. According to Mr. Blyth, C. sika " belongs strictly to the Elaphine, and not to the Axine, group"1 of Deer; and the con- A v 4 5 Fig. 25. Diagram of types of antlers. formation of its horns is decidedly in favour of this view. Nevertheless it must be noted that in its ally, C. mantchuricus, and in C. kopschi (Swinhoe)-I cannot find a skull of C. sika in any museum for comparison-the auditory bulla is considerably inflated, as in C. porcinus and C. axis. This feature is not, however, of particular importance, as C. virginianus in this respect differs from most of the American Cervidae, possessing a very inflated bulla. With reference to the brow-antler (A), it is evident that its duplication in the true Elaphine Deer and in Rangifer is more associated with the actual size of the antlers than with any other peculiarity. The antlers of Elaphurus davidianus are at present quite beyond my comprehension. General Remarks. Whilst working at any special group of animals, there is nothing which must strike most students so much as the inefficient scientific capacities of the Linnaean binomial nomenclature as it is at present employed. For the simple identification of species among themselves and of genera it is excellent, no doubt; but immediately the generic position is assigned to any collection of related species, the animals or plants which constitute them are, so far as nomenclature is concerned, lost in the plurality of mundane organized forms. In the science of chemistry-an older one, it is true-the case is very 1 J. A. S. B. xxix. p. 90. |