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Show 1894.] IN THE ANTLERS OE THE FALLOW DEER. 487 many later books. Owen's views are as follows :-" If a Fallow-buck, with antlers, be castrated, they are shed earlier than usual \ and by a more active absorbent process, which leaves an irregular concavity at the base1; the antlers that are subsequently developed are small, seldom branched2, retain the ' velvet' longer than usual2, and become thickened by irregular tuberculate masses of bone. If a young buck be castrated before it has ' put u p' antlers, it does, afterwards, in some cases develop them, but of reduced size and abnormal shape, retaining them with their formative covering longer than usual3. Occasionally, though rarely, they are shed and renewed ; but such shed antlers of a ' heavier ' or castrate deer are characterized by the excavation of their base " * (Comp. Anat. Phys. Vert. 1868, vol. iii. p. 631). A footnote to this passage states that Sir Philip Egerton's experiments yielded " in the main " these results, and I have given references above to the specimens, of which the Catalogue-record confirms the statements of Owen. Since, so far as I know, none of these specimens have been figured, and some of them are not included by the passage quoted above, I append a brief description of the series, and outlines of the more interesting specimens, by the kind permission of the Council of the College of Surgeons. R. Coll. Surg., Ost. Ser. 1555. Castrated at birth. The skull exhibits slender frontal processes, about two inches in length, resembling those of a Giraffe. They arc stated to have been covered during life by a hairy skin rather than true velvet. Texture, hard and bony. 1556. Castrated at birth (fig. 1). The frontlet shows somewhat similar Giraffelike frontal processes, of more cancellous texture. They have a distinct, though slight, burr, and measure respectively two and four inches. 1563. " One of a pair that were put up by a castrated buck aud retained." This is a dag still attached to the frontal bone, six inches in length, covered by coarse irregular exostoses. 1569. A similar specimen to the former two, but with longer processes covered by very coarse exostoses. The specimen was figured in Knight's 'English Cyclopedia of Natural History,' i. 844 (1854), art. Cervidse, as " the horns of a Fallow Deer that were not shed at the usual time in consequence of the castration of the animal." All these specimens exhibit a single short stem or " dag," such as is first put up by a buck, and all are still attached to the frontal bones. 1566. No statement of age at castration. The frontlet carries antlers which show a rudimentary brow-tyne; both it and the beam are very short, and are covered by huge exostoses. They are stated to have been retained long after the usual time for shedding. This differs from the previous specimens ouly in showing signs of a brow-tyne. It is possible that all these specimens were castrated at birth, and that the antlers of this type are not shed 1 R. C. S. Osteol. specimen 1560. 2 R. C. S. Osteol. specimen 1565. 3 R. C. S. Osteol. specimens 1555, 1556. 4 R. C. S. Osteol. specimens passim. '62* |