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Show 1S94.J IN THE ANTLERS OF THE FALLOW DEER. 491 this, however, which is pure speculation, a few notes on them seem to be justified from the standpoint of the increasing interest in Variation. They fall into three chief groups :- 1. Antlers in which the abnormality or arrest is approximately symmetrical on both sides. 3Q.1) 29. Belong to the same type as the first group of the College of Surgeons ; 35. , they form short dags, often overgrown by exostoses, cancellous 24. iu structure, white in colour, and are probably covered by skin 26. throughout life. 39. ) 23 [ ^re c o mPa c k rough dags, obviously burnished, growing backwards 42 j and downwards. This curious direction is taken in several J" [ specimens of the next group (cf. Roy. Coll. Surg. 1567). 34.^ 11. 12. 19. 27. 3. 22. 16! 41J These specimens increase in size and complexity, in something like the order given. Beginning with no. 34, which exhibits a pair of simple burnished dags, measuring R. 4.jin., L. 7i in. in length, we reach, not by regular steps, but with increase in size corresponding on the whole to increase in complexity, to no. 41, which has brow, tray, and two points, and is 13g in. in length. ii. Antlers of which the one is fairly developed and of more or less normal growth, the other arrested at a lower grade and frequently of abnormal form. These specimens are sufficiently interesting from the point of view of " Continuous Variation " to justify more detail than has been given of the previous group. The following Table exhibits the relations of the shorter antler; the lengths are given in inches. N o tray-tyne occurs in any specimen. The specimens are approximately arranged in the Table (p. 492) according to their general development, together with that of the corresponding antler ; not according to total length, brow, or points. Still there is a fairly regular agreement among these, and the Pathological Series:-No. 1730 is the head of a Red Deer with the R. antler less developed than the L., and 1731 the L. tarsal, &c, bones of the same specimen, evidently severely broken during life, and covered by spongy new bone; " it is supposed that the injury to the leg was the cause of the defective growth of the antler." No. 1732 is a left antler of imperfect development, "probably in consequence of an injury to the right elbow-joint." I have italicized two words in the citations from the Catalogue: fractures of the limbs are not uncommon in deer, and, apparently, abnormality of the antler is not uncommon; it is natural therefore that they should occasionally coincide in the same animal, These two cases relate to the opposite side. On the other hand, Scrope and Whitaker both cite cases in which a wound, not apparently in the testis, produced abnormality in the antler of the same side. This is merely one instance of many which show how necessary is a renewed study of the whole question. 1 The full reference numbers are 50.2.5.36, 50.2.5.29, &c.,of the Osteolcgical series of Mammalia. |
