Page:Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London, vol. 34.djvu/484

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Deer of the European Miocene and Pliocene strata have hitherto been a stumbling-block in the path of the palæontologist, from the fragmentary condition in which their antlers are generally preserved, and the difficulty of separating their variations in form, dependent on age, from those which are worthy to rank as of specific value. They are represented, for the most part, by local names without definitions, which in many cases are synonyms so complicated, that very generally I have found it necessary to examine the original specimen before arriving at an opinion as to their value. To add to the confusion, MM. Croizet and Jobert published their work on the Pliocene Cervidæ of Auvergne without letterpress, and with the names only of the species printed on the outer coloured cover of each part, which, in the natural course of things, has been rejected by the binder. I have only met with them in one out of the many copies which I have seen, in the Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The work of M. Pomel is without plates, and that projected by that author and M. Bravard (which included the Cervidæ) was never published.

In the following essay, based upon materials collected from time to time in France and Italy, I have defined some of those forms of Deer which are most widely spread and most perfectly preserved, confining my attention solely to the antlers. I have merely attempted to treat a portion of the subject, reserving the rest until