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with that of the earlier magistrates bearing the same name, and connected by some scholars, not only with the republic, but with the kings. There were also the Decemviri Sacrorum, who were custodians of the Sibylline books. Their number, which originally consisted of two, and afterwards of ten, at last reached fifteen. It devolved on these functionaries not only to guard the Sibylline books, and to consult them on all emergencies of state, but also to take a prominent part in the celebration of the games of Apollo. DECIMAL COINAGE. It has often been proposed to substitute for our quarto-duodecimo-vicesimal system of reckoning money one entirely decimal, and therefore in harmony with the system, employed in all civilized countries, of reckoning numbers both integral and fractional In the case of numbers, there is no difficulty in regard to the standard by which to reckon; it is unity, and all integral numbers are either so many units, tens of units, hundreds of units, &c., or combinations of these, and all fractional numbers either so many tenths of a unit, hundredths of a unit, &c., or combinations of these. In the case of money, however, the selection of the standard of value, or the unit by which to reckon, coustitutes the main, if not the sole, theoretical difficulty to be overcome, previous to the introduction of a decimal coinage. Practical difficulties would arise from the unwillingness of people to make the changes in thinking and speaking that would be necessitated by new coins, or the altered values of old ones.

Of all the schemes proposed in England, that which advocates the retention of the sovereign, or pound sterling, as the unit of value seems to have met with most favour. According to this scheme, the pound would be divided into 10 florins, the florin into 10 cents, and the cent into 10 mils. The name florin, as well as the coin, is in use already; the names cent and mil would mark the relation of the corresponding coins to the pound. The cent, being theth part of the pound, would represent 22d., or nearly 24d.; the mil, being the oth part, would be worth a little less than a farthing, which is the th. The coins which it would be found necessary to issue would probably be-in copper, the mild., the 2-mil piece=1d., rather less than a halfpenny, and the 5-mil piece - Id., rather less than a penny farthing; in silver, the cent=23d., the 2-cent piece = 44d., the 5-cent piece, or shilling, and the 10-cent piece, or florin; in gold, the half-sovereign, and the sovereign. In addition to the preceding, perhaps a double florin = 4s., in silver. and a crown= 5s., in gold, might be found convenient.

The chief disadvantage of this system is that it would abolish the copper farthing, halfpenny, and penny, and the silver coins representing 3d., 4d., 6d. Since 6d. 25 mils is the lowest number of pence which could be paid exactly in mils, inconvenience would thus be caused to the poorer classes, whose unit of value may be said to be the penny; and difficulties would also arise in cases where fixed imposts of a penny and a halfpenny are levied, such as penny and halfpenny tolls, postages, &c.

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A second scheme advocates the adoption of the farthing as the unit of value, and its coins of account would be the farthing, the cent or doit = 10 farthings, the florin - 10 cents or doits, the pound = 10 florins. The coins required for circulation would probably be-in copper, the farthing, the halfpenny, the penny; in silver, the cent or doit = 21d., the 2-cent piece or groat-5d., the shilling 12 d., and the florin - 25d. ; in gold, the half-sovereign= 10s. 5d., and the sovereign=20s. 10d. Here also a silver double florin 4s. 2d., and a gold crown = 5s. 24d., might be found convenient.

The chief disadvantages of this system would be the abolition of the present pound sterling, the unit of value in national finance, in banks, insurance and all great com

mercial offices, and the trouble that would thereby be caused in comparing values expressed in the old coinage with those of the new. Among its advantages may be reckoned the fact that, during the transition to the new state of things, the old coins would still be serviceable, for any sum of money expressed in the new coinage could be paid by means of them. The alterations on small imposts, requisite under the first scheme, would here be unnecessary; and inconvenience would be saved to those classes of the population who receive weekly wages; which are generally fixed at so many pence per hour. The reduction of sumis expressed in the old coinage to their equivalents in the new would, however, be slightly more difficult than under the first system.

A third scheme proposes as the unit the half-sovereign, a coin almost as familiar as the sovereign, with the view of having only three instead of four coins of account. The half-sovereign would be divided into 10 shillings as at present, and the shilling into 10 pence, each of which would therefore be equivalent to 1d., or 20 per cent. more than the present penny. As a penny is of more value than the metal of which it is made, the present copper coinage could be made to serve under the new system. This scheme, from its alteration of the value of the penny, is open to most of the objections that can be brought against the first; and, in comparing accounts expressed in the old and the new coinages, it would necessitate a very slight inconvenience certainly-multiplication or division by 2.

A fourth scheme proposes that the penny be made the unit of value, and that all accounts should be kept in tenpences and pence. All the present coins, though only one of them would be a coin of account, could still remain in circulation; and only two new coins would be required, the tenpence and its half, fivepence.

It has also been proposed that there should be only two coins of account, the higher equivalent to 100 of the lower, such as florins and cents, the cent in this scheme being the mil of the first. Centesimal coinage similar to this exists in several foreign countries, &c.; but it is probable that, should a change be made, the practice of other nations will be imitated only where it is found to conduce to national convenience.

The preceding are the most important of the schemes that have been suggested to replace the present system, and the adoption of the first of them has been recommended by a committee of the House of Commons. But since 1855 public opinion on the question does hot appear to have advanced much. The arguments for and against a change are numerous, and to detail them would be to fill a moderate volume. The principal reason for making the change is that calculation would be enormously simplified, for reduction from one denomination of money into another could always be performed at sight; and the compound rules, as far as money is concerned, would be virtually abolished. The greatest objections to the change, apart from the difficulty of getting people to make it, which is doubtless much exaggerated, are that a decimal system does not admit to a sufficient extent of binary subdivision, and that it does not admit of ternary subdivision at all. The third part, for instance, of a pound, of a florin, of a cent, being 3331, 331, 31 mils respectively, could not be exactly paid in decimal currency, while there is no difficulty in paying the third part of a pound, or of a shilling by our present coinage. Again, the,, of the pound, the 1⁄2, of the florin, and the of the cent are the only binary subdivisions possible with the decimal coins of account; the,,,,,of the pound, and the,, of the shilling are possible at present. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, the advantages of a decimal system seem con

Eiderably to preponderate, and the introduction of it to be merely a question of time.

The coinage of the United States, which was made decimal in 1786, consists of the eagle = 10 dollars, the dollar = 10 dimes, the dime = 10 cents, but of these denominations dollars and cents are the only ones commonly used. In France, shortly after the great Revolution, a decimal system not only of money, but also of weights and measures, was introduced. The standard of value is the franc = 100 centimes; but though the only coins are francs, centimes, and multiples of these, the word sou, a term belonging to the superseded coinage, is often used to denote the 20th part of the franc, or 5 centimes. The Belgian and the Swiss monetary systems were assimilated to that of France in 1833 and 1851; and in 1865 France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland, became parties to a treaty for the maintenance of a common system. Germany, within the last few years, has effected a reform of her currency, the mark, which corresponds closely to our shilling, being = 10 groschen = 100 pfennige. A decimal coinage exists also in Russia, where the ruble = 100 kopecks; in Holland, where the guilder = 10 dubbeltjes = 100 cents; and in Portugal, where the milrei= 1000 reis.

See Observations on the Expediency and Practicability of Simplifying and Improving the Measures, Weights, and Money, &c., by General Sir Charles Pasley, 8vo, 1834; the Report of the Select Committee on a Decimal System of Coinage, August 1853; and the publications of the "Decimal Association.' (J. S. M.)

DECIUS MUS. See Mus.

DECLARATION in an action at law was the first step in pleading the formal statement of the matter in respect of which the defendant sued. It was divided into counts, in each of which a specific cause of action was alleged, but the language used was cautious and general, and the same matter might be the subject of several counts. By the simpler form of pleading established by the Judicature Act, 1873, the declaration is replaced by a statement of claim Betting forth the simple facts on which the plaintiff replies, Statutory declaration.-By 5 and 6 Will. IV. c. 62 (which was an Act to make provisions for the abolition of unnecessary oaths, and to repeal a previous Act of the same session on the same subject) various cases are specified in which a declaration shall be substituted for an affidavit on oath. There is a general clause empowering any justice of the peace, notary public, or other officer now by law authorized to administer an oath, to take and receive the declaration of any person voluntarily making the same before him in the form in the schedule to the Act annexed; and if any declaration so made shall be false or untrue in any material particular, the person wilfully making such false declaration shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanour. DECLARATION OF PARIS, a diplomatic instrument or protocol signed by the representatives of all the powers present at the Congress of Paris in 1856, and subsequently accepted as a binding engagement of public law by all the other powers (except the United States of America, Spain, and Mexico), for the purpose of settling and defining certain rules of maritime law, in time of war, on points of great moment to belligerent and neutral states-points, it must be added, upon which the ancient law of nations had gradually undergone some change, and on which great differences of opinion and practice prevailed. The four propositions agreed to by the plenipotentiaries were embodied in the following terms:—

1. Privateering is and remains abolished.

2 The neutral flag covers enemy's goods, with the exception of contraband of war.

3. Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under an enemy's flag.

4 Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective, that is to ay, maintained by a force sufficient readily to prevent access to the cast of the enemy.

By most of the modern writers on international law of civilization, international justice, commerce, and peace. these principles are regarded as a distinct gain to the cause But a feeble and ineffectual attempt has been made to repudiate these new rules of maritime law, though they received the tacit assent of Parliament, and have been occurred since 1856, including the American civil war, acted upon by all nations in the six wars which have although the United States had not concurred in the Declaration. The American Government withheld its assent, not because it objected to these principles, bu because it held that they did not go far enough, and that they ought to be extended to secure from capture all private property at sea. of the Declaration that the British envoy at Paris exceeded It is argued by the opponents his powers; that the form of the instrument itself is declaratory, but not binding either as a contract or a legislative act; that it is not competent to a congress to change the rights of belligerents founded on ancient law and usage; and that Great Britain committed a fatal error in renouncing the right to seize enemy's goods in neutral ships and to equip privateers.

To these arguments it is said in reply that the British Crown, with the concurrence of the Cabinet, and that if envoy at Paris had full powers to pledge the faith of the Parliament disapproved his conduct, it ought to have been pressed to a division at the time, and not when Great Britain has enjoyed the benefit of the Declaration, as a of the Crown to fix our international relations, and to neutral, for twenty years. It is a part of the prerogative determine the conditions of maritime warfare. The most fitting and binding expression of international law (which cannot assume the form of positive law by sovereign enactment) is to be found in instruments recording in solemn form the consent of ali civilized nations. On the ground of expediency, it is contended by the supporters of the in the world, that which has most to gain by it, because she Declaration of Paris, that Great Britain is, of all countries is not only the greatest naval power, but the power which has the largest number of merchant vessels and the largest amount of property afloat on the seas, and liable to attack. The primary advantage of the Declaration no doubt accrues to neutrals, as it secures to them a larger carrying trade in time of war, and exempts them from the seizure of enemy's goods in neutral ships. Hence, if a belligerent were now to violate the rules of the Declaration, he would would speedily find them arrayed on the side of the enemy. have to encounter the opposition of all neutral states, and But in the event of war, Great Britain is the state most exposed, by reason of the magnitude of her maritime trade, to the depredations of hostile cruisers; the injury done is to be measured by the amount of the shipping and property exposed to it; and a single cruiser of a small state may cause enormous losses to the commerce of a great power, as was seen in the American civil war. Since the establish

ment of a general system of railroads, the greater part of the trade of all the states of continental Europe can bə carried on by land, either by direct communication or through neutral ports. The power of a naval state to inflict serious injury on an enemy by the interruption of her trade is therefore by the nature of things greatly diminished, and the same remark applies to commercial blockades. To England all foreign commodities must be brought by sea, and England is more dependent than any other country on foreign trade for the raw material of her manufactures, and even for the food of her inhabitants. It is therefore the paramount interest of England to keep open all the channels of trade, as much as possible, both in peace and war; and injuries done to the trade of an enemy are often equally prejudicial to the state which

inflicts them. These are some of the leading_arguments | which were first excited by a piece of machinery, in the which have been advanced in defence of the Declaration of Paris, and which no doubt actuated the authors of it.

A full account of the controversy will be found in the third volume of Sir Robert Phillimore's Commentaries on International Law, where the learned author supports and advocates the old traditions of the Court of Admiralty, and also in Hall's Rights and Duties of Neutrals (1874). The principles on which the Declara tion of Paris is based are explained and defended in an article in the Edinburgh Review, No. 296. (H. R.)

DECLARATOR, in Scotch law, is a form of action by which some right of property, or of servitude, or of status, or some inferior right or interest, is sought to be judicially declared (see Bell's Dictionary and Digest of the Law of Scotland.)

DECREE, DECREET, the judgment of a court of justice, and, in English law, more particularly the judgment of a court of equity. A decree nisi is the conditional order for a dissolution of marriage made by the court for divorce and matrimonial causes, which will be made absolute after six months, in the absence of sufficiert cause shown to the contrary.

DECRETALS, in canon law, are the answers sent by the Pope to applications made to him as head of the church, chiefly by bishops, but also by synods, and even private individuals, for guidance in cases involving points of doctrine or discipline. In the early days of the church these repies came to be circulated throughout the various dioceses, and furnished precedents to be observed in analogous circumstances. From the 4th century onwards they formed the most prolific source of canon law. Decretals (decreta constituta decretalia, epistolæ decretales, or shortly decretalia, or decretales) ought, properly speaking, to be distinguished, on the one hand from constitutions (constitutiones pontificia), or general laws enacted by the Pope sua sponte without reference to any particular case, and on the other hand from rescripts (rescripta), which apply only to special circumstances or individuals, and constitute no general precedent. But this nomenclature is not strictly observed.

For futher information see art. CANON LAW, in which will also

be found an account of the Pseudo-Isidorian or False Decretals. DECURIO, an officer in the Roman cavalry, commanding a decuria, which was a body consisting of ten men. There were certain provincial magistrates called decuriones municipales, who had the same position and powers in free and corporate towns as the senate had in Rome. As the name implies, they consisted at first of ten, but in later times the number was often as many as a hundred; their duty was to watch over the interests of their fellow-citizens, and to increase the revenues of the commonwealth. Their court was called curia decurionum, and minor senatus; and their decrees, called decreta decurionum, were marked with D. D. at the top. They generally styled themselves civitatum patres curiales, and honorati municipiorum senatores. They were elected with the same ceremonies as the Roman senators, and they required to be at least twentyfive years of age, and to be possessed of a certain fixed income. The election took place on the kalends of March. DEE, JOHN (1527-1608), a mathematician and astrologer, was born in July 1527, in London, where his father was a wealthy vintner. In 1542 he was sent to St John's College, Cambridge. After five years' close application to mathematical studies, particularly astronomy, he went to Holland, in order to visit several eminent Continental mathematicians. Having remained abroad nearly a year, he returned to Cambridge, and was elected a fellow of Trinity College, then first erected by King Henry VIII. In 1548 he took the degree of master of arts; but in the same year he found it necessary to leave England on account of the suspicions entertained of his being a conjuror,

Irene of Aristophanes, he exhibited to the university, representing the scarabæus flying up to Jupiter, with a man and a basket of victuals on its back. On leaving England he went first to the university of Louvain, where he resided about two years, and then to the college of Rheims, wherə he read lectures on Euclid's Elements with great applause. On his return to England in 1551 King Edward assigned him a pension of 100 crowns, which he afterwards exchanged for the rectory of Upton-upon-Severn. Soon after the accession of Mary, he was accused of using enchantments against the queen's life; but after a tedious confinement, he obtained his liberty in 1555, by an order

of council.

When Elizabeth ascended the throne, Dee was asked by Lord Dudley to name a propitious day for the coronation. On this occasion he was introduced to the queen, who took lessons in the mystical interpretation of his writings, and made him great promises, which, however, were never fulfilled. In 1564 he again visited the Continent, in order to present a book which he had dedicated to the Emperor Maximilian. He returned to England in the same year; but in 1571 we find him in Lorraine, whither two physicians were sent by the queen to his relief in a dangerous illness. Having once more returned to his native country, he settled at Mortlake, in Surrey, where he continued his studies with unremitting ardour, and made a collection of curious books and manuscripts, and a variety of instruments, most of which were destroyed by the mob during his absence, on account of his supposed familiarity with the devil. In 1578 Dee was sent abroad to consult with German physicians and astrologers in regard to the illness of the queen. On his return to England, he was employed in investigating the title of the Crown to the countries recently discovered by British subjects, and in furnishing geographical descriptions. Two large rolls containing the desired information, which he presented to the queen, are still preserved in the Cottonian Library. A learned treatise on the reformation of the calendar, written by him about the same time, is still preserved in the Ashmolean Library at Oxford.

From this period the philosophical researches of Dee were concerned entirely with the pseudo-science of necromancy. In 1581 he became acquainted with Edward Kelly, an apothecary who professed to have discovered the philosopher's stone, and by whose assistance he performed various incantations, and maintained a frequent imaginary intercourse with spirits. Shortly after, Kelly and Dee were introduced to a Polish nobleman, Albert Laski, palatine of Siradia (Sieradz), devoted to the same pursuits, who persuaded the two friends to accompany him to his native country. They embarked for Holland in September 1583, and arrived at Laski's place of residence in February following. They lived for some years in Poland and Bohemia in alternate wealth and poverty, according to the credulity or scepticism of those before whom they exhibited. They professed to raise spirits by incantation. Kelly dictated their utterances to Dee, who wrote them down and interpreted them.

Dee, having at length quarrelled with his companion, quitted Bohemia and returned to England, where he was matle chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral in 1594, and warden of Manchester College in 1595. He afterwards returned to his house at Mortlake, where he died in 1608, at the age of eighty-one.

His principal works are-Propadeumata Aphoristica, Lond. 1558; Monas Hieroglyphica, Antwerp, 1564; Epistola ad Fredericum

Commandinum, Pesaro, 1570; Preface Mathematical to the English Euclid, 1570; Divers Annotations and Inventions added after the tenth book of English Euclid, 1570; Epistola præfixa Epheme ridibus Joannis Feldi, a 1557; Paralláticœ Commonensationis Praxeos

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que Nucleus quidum, London. 1573. The catalogue of his printed
and published works is to be found in his Compendious Rehearsal,
as well as in his letter to Archbishop Whitgift, to which the
reader is referred. A manuscript of Dee's, relating what passed for
many years between him and some spirits, was edited by Meric Cas-
aubon and published in 1659.
and the Catalogue of his Library of Manuscripts, edited by J. O.
The Private Diary of Dr John Dee,
Halliwell, was published by the Caniden Society in 1842.

DEED is a contract in writing, sealed and delivered by the party bound to the party benefited. Contracts or obligations under seal are called in English law specialties, and down to a recent date they took precedeuce in payment over simple contracts, whether written or not. Writing, sealing, and delivery are all essential to a deed. The signature of the party charged is not material, and the deed is not void for want of a date. Delivery, it is held, may be complete without the actual handing over of the deed; it is sufficient if the act of sealing were accompanied by words or acts signifying that the deed was intended to be presently binding; and delivery to a third person for the use of the party benefited will be sufficient. On the other hand, the deed may be handed over to a third person as an escrow (écrit), in which case it will not take effect as a deed until certain conditions are performed. Such ccnditional delivery inay be inferred from the circumstances attending the transaction, although the conditions be not expressed in words. A deed indented, or indenture (so called because written in counterparts on the same sheet of parchment, separated by cuttiug a wavy line between them), is between two or more parties who contract mutually. The actual indentation is not now necessary to an indenture. A deed-poll (without indentation) is a deed in which one party binds himself without reference to any corresponding obligations undertaken by another party. See CONTRACT.

DEER (Cervidae), a family of Ruminant Artiodactyle Mammals, distinguished by the possession of deciduous branching horns or antlers, and by the presence of spots on the young. The antlers.are borne by the frontal bone, and generally begin to appear towards the end of spring. At that season there is a marked determination of blood to the head, the vessels surrounding the frontal eminences become temporarily enlarged, and the budding horn grows with marvellous rapidity, the antlers of a full-grown stag being produced in ten weeks. At first the horns are soft, vascular, and highly sensitive, and are covered with a delicate hairy integument known as the "velvet," amply provided with blood-vessels. On attaining their full growth the "burr," consisting of a ring of osseous tubercles at the base of the horn, is formed, and this by pressing upon, gradually cuts off the blood-vessels which supply Butriment to the antlers. The velvety covering then begins to shrivel and to peel off, its disappearance being hastened by the deer rubbing its antlers against trees and rocks; while the grooves, which are seen to furrow the now exposed surface, mark the place of the former blood-vessels. With the single exception of the reindeer, antlers are confined to the male sex, and are fully developed at the commencement of the rutting season, when they are brought into use as offensive weapons in the sanguinary fights between the males for possession of the females. When the season of love is over they are shed, reappearing, how ever, in the following spring, and continuing to grow larger and heavier until the deer attains its full growth. Whether the deer inhabiting the warmer regions of the earth shed their antlers every year has been a matter of considerable dispute, but in a recent work (Highlands of Central India) Forsyth states that he has convinced himself, from repeated observations, that in Indian deer this operation does not take place annually. In castrated animals the antlers either cease to appear or are merely rudimentary, while any influence whatever which disturbs the general

Was

system seems detrimental to their growth. as
observed in a case quoted by Darwin, where the
antlers of a Wapiti deer, formed during a voyage from
America, were singularly stunted, although the same
tions, produced perfect horns. Spots are common to the
individual afterwards, when living under normal condi
young of so many species of deer that their presence may
fairly be regarded as a family character. These spots
persist through life in such forins as the Axis, or Spotted
Deer (Axis maculata), but in the majority of species they
altogether disappear in the adult form. Darwin considers
that in all such cases the old have had their colour
changed in the course of time, while the young have
remained but little altered, and this he holds has been
effected "through the principle of inheritance at corre-
sponding ages." The lachrymal sinus, or tearpit," is
present in most species of deer. This consists of a cavity
beneath each eye, capable of being opened at pleasure, in
which a waxy substance of a disagreeable odour is secreted,
the purpose of which is not yet clearly-ascertained.
"The
big round tears" which the contemplative Jacques watched,
as they
"Conrsed one another down his innocent noso
In piteous clase,"

is Shakespeare's interpretation of the appearance presented
by the motion of the glistening edges of the tearpits in the
stag. The deer family comprises 8 genera and 52 species,
distributed over all the great regions of the earth except
the Ethiopian, and living under the most diverse climatic
conditions. Their total absence from Africa south of the
Sahara may be due, as A. R. Wallace (Geographical Distri
bution of Animals) contends, to the presence in the past, as
now, of a great belt of dry and desert country effectually
preventing the immigration from Europe iuto Africa of
such a forest-frequenting group as the deer, while favour-
ing the introduction of antelopes, which attain their
greatest development in that region. They are also absent
from Australia, although present in the Austro-Malayan
region. The following are some of the more remarkable
species.

The Red Deer or Stag (Cervus elaphus), the largest of the British deer, is a native of the temperatu regions of Europe and Northern Asia, inhabiting dense forests, or frequenting moors and barren hill-sides as in Scotland. In England, where in feudal times it was protected by forest laws, which set greater value on the life of a stag than on that of a man, it was formerly abundant in all the royal forests. It is now almost extinct in that country, as.well as in Ireland, in the wild state. In Scotland considerable herds are still to be found in the Highlands, and in several of the Western Isles, although, owing probably to the diminished extent of their feeding grounds, to the breeding in and in which takes place, and to the anxiety of deerstalkers to secure the finest heads, the species is believed to be degenerating. The finest specimens in this country are found in the deer forests of Sutherlandshire, but these are inferior in size to those still obtained in the east of Europe. The antlers of the Stag are rounded, and bear three" tines," or branches, and a crown consisting of three or more points. The points increase in number with the age of the creature, and when 12 are present it is known in Scotland as a "royal stag." This number, however, is sometimes exceeded, as in the case of a pair of antlers, weighing 74 lb, from a stag killed in Transylvania, which had 45 points. The antlers during the second year consist of a simple unbranched stem, to which a tine or branch is added in each succeeding year, until the normal development is attained, after which their growth is somewhat irregular. The Red Deer is gregarious, the females and calves herding together apart from the males except at the rutting season, which begins about the end of September end lasts for three weeks. Dur

ing this time the males go in search of the females, and are exceedingly fierce and dangerous. The period of gestation extends a few days beyond eight months, and the hind usually produces a single calf. The stag is remarkably shy and wary, and its sense of smell is exceedingly acute. In former times it was huuted with horse, hound, and horn, and such is still the practice in Devonshire and in Ireland, but in Scotland the old method has been superseded by "stalking." A full grown stag stands about 4 feet high at the shoulders; its fur in summer is of a reddish-brown colour with a yellowish-white patch on the buttocks, in winter the fur is much thicker and of a grayish brown.

The Wapiti Deer (Cervus canadensis) may be regarded as the representative of the stag in North America. It stands, however, a foot higher, and bears correspondingly heavier antlers. It occurs chiefly in Canada, where it feeds on grass and the young shoots of the willow and poplar. It has gained the reputation of being the most stupid of the cervine family, but this may have partly arisen from the peculiar noise it makes, corresponding to the "belling" of the stag, but in its case resembling very much the braying of an ass. Its flesh is coarse, and is held in little estimation by the Indians, owing to the excessive hardness of the fat. It thrives well in Britain, and would probably have been introduced had its venison been better.

The Fallow Deer (Dama vulyaris), a species semidomesticated in Britain, where it forms a principal ornament in parks, still occurs wild in Western Asia, North Africa, and Sardinia, and in prehistoric times appears to have abounded throughout Northern and Central Europe. It stands 3 feet high at the shoulders, and its antlers, which are cylindrical at the base, become palmated towards the extremity, the palmation showing itself in the third year, and the antlers reaching their full growth in the sixth. The fur is of a yellowish-brown colour (whence the name "fallow"), marked with white spots; there is, however, a uniformly brown variety found in Britain, and said to have been brought by James I. from Norway on account of its hardiness. The two varieties are said by Darwin to have been long kept together in the Forest of Dean, but have never been known to mingle. The bucks and does live apart except during the pairing season, and the doe produces one or two, and sometimes three fawns at a birth. They are exceedingly fond of music, and a herd of twenty bucks were, it is said, brought from Yorkshire to Hampton Court, led by music from a bagpipe and violin. They feed on herbage, and are particularly foud of horse chestnuts, which the males endeavour to procure by striking at the branches with their antlers.

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The Roe Deer (Capreolus capra) is the smallest of the British Cervidae, a full-grown buck standing not more than 26 inches high at the shoulders. The antlers are short upright, and deeply furrowed, and differ from those of the preceding species in the absence of a basal "tine." The horns, in this, as well as in the other members of the deer family, are largely employed in the manufacture of handles for cutlery, and the parings from these were formerly used in the preparation of ammonia, hence the name hartshoru still applied to that substance. The Roe Deer inhabits southern and temperate Europe as far east as Syria, where it frequents woods, preferring such as have a large growth of underwood, and are in the 'neighbourhood of cultivated ground. This it visits in the evening in search of food, and where roes are numerous, the damage done to growing crops is considerable. In going to and from their feeding grounds they invariably follow the same track aul the sportsman takes advantage of this habit to waylay them. Iu huuting the roe the woods are driven by beaters, and they are shot down, as they speed along the accustomed paths, by the ambushed hunter. The species

was until recently supposed to be monogamous, pairing in December, and the period of gestation only extending over five months. This supposition arose from the fact that the fœtus in the doe was never found till January, and that then it was but slightly developed, although the sexes were known to seek the society of each other in July and August. From the investigations of Professor Bischoff of Giessen it appears that the true rutting season of the Roe Deer is in July and August; but that the ovum lies dormant until December, when it begins to develop in the normal way; the period of gestation is thus extended to nearly nine months. It was formerly abundant in all the wooded parts of Great Britain, but was gradually driven out, until in Pennant's time it did not occur south of Perthshire. Since then the increase of plantations has led to its partial restoration in the south of Scotland and north of England. It takes readily to the water, and has been known to swim across lochs more than half a mile in breadth.

The Elk or Moose Deer (Alces malchis) is the largest of living Cervidae, its shoulders being higher than those of the horse. Its head measures 2 feet in length, and its antlers, which are broadly palmated, often weigh from 50 to 60 Ib; the neck is consequently short and stout. It is covered with a thick coarse fur of a brownish colour, longest on the neck and throat. Its legs are long, and it is thus unable to feed close to the ground-for which reason it browses on the tops of low plants, the leaves of trees, and the tender shoots of the willow and birch. Its antlers attain their full length by the fifth year, but in after years they increase in breadth and in the number of brauches, until fourteen of these are produced. Although spending a large part of their lives in forests they do not appear to suffer much inconvenience from the great expanse of their antlers. In making their way among trees, the horns are carried horizontally to prevent entanglement with the branches, and so skilful is the elk that "he will not break or touch a dead twig when walking quietly." His usual pace, according to Lloyd (Field Sports), is a shambling trot; but when frightened he goes at a tremendous gallop. The elk is a shy and timorous creature, fleeing at the sight of man. This timidity, however, forsakes the male at the rutting season, and he will then attack whatever animal comes in his way. The antlers and hoofs are his principal weapons, and with a single blow from the latter he has been known to kill a wolf. In North America the moose is tormented in the hot season by mosquitoes, and it is when rendered furious by the attacks of those insects that it can be most readily approached. The female seldom gives birth to niore than two fawus, and with these she retires into the deepest recesses of the forest, the young remaining with her till their third year. The elk ranges over the whole of Northern Europe and Asia, as far south as East Prussia, the Caucasus, and North China, and over North America from the New England States westward to British Columbia. It was formerly common in the forests of Germany and Frauce, and is still found in some parts of Sweden and Norway, where it is strictly protected. The elk, according to Lloyd, is easily domesticated, and was at one time employed in Sweden in drawing sledges. During winter it is frequently seen alone, but in summer and autumn it may be met with in small herds. In summer also it frequents morasses and low grounds, and takes readily to the water; in winter it retires to the shelter of the forests, where alone it can find suitable sustenance. flesh is considered excellent, and its tongue and nose are regarded as delicacies.

Its

The Reindeer (Tarandus rangifer), the only domesticated species of deer, has a range somewhat similar to the elk, extending over the entire boreal region of both hemispheres, from Greeuland and Spitzbergen in the north to New

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