ACCIDENTAL VARIATION.
To the Editor of the Popular Science Monthly.
The following figures and description show a somewhat interesting case of accidental variation:
The antlers are those of a common deer (Cervus Virginianus). The buck from which they were taken was about five years old, and was shot by a gentleman of long and varied experience as a hunter; he thinks them quite exceptional in shape.
Fig. 1.
In their dimensions and their great width, as compared with thickness, they show a strong resemblance to the palmated antlers of the caribou, or an approach to the antlers of the elk.
Fig. 1 shows the position and curvature of the antlers. As indicated, they differ somewhat in outline, and the left one is shorter and broader than the right.
Fig. 2 is a reduced sketch obtained by tracing the outlines of the left antler on a large sheet of paper, and then corrected by careful measurements with calipers.
The measurements are:
| Width from tip to tip | 15-3/8 | inches | ||
| Length of exterior curvature from root to tip | 18-3/4 | " | ||
| Direct height | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 14-1/4 | " | |
| Width at | 1 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1-3/8 | " |
| " | 2 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 2-1/4 | " |
| " | 3 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 4-1/8 | " |
| " | 4 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 4-7/8 | " |
| " | 5 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 5-1/8 | " |
| " | 6 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 3 | " |
| " | 7 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1-13/16 | " |
| " | 8 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1-5/8 | " |
Fig. 2.
| Thickness at | a | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 7/8 | inch. |
| " | b | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1/2 | " |
| " | c | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 5/8 | " |
| " | d | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 7/8 | " |
| " | e | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 3/4 | " |
| " | f | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 9/16 | " |
| " | g | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 7/8 | " |
| Girth at root of antler | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 5-3/8 | inches. | |
| " | 2 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 5-5/8 | " |
| " | 4 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 10-3/8 | " |
| " | 7 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 4-3/8 | " |
| " | 8 | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . | 4-1/8 | " |
| E. R. Leland. |
| Eauclaire, Wis., June 19, 1876. |
WHO ERECTED STONEHENGE?
To the Editor of the Popular Science Monthly.
When a boy, the writer walked many miles to visit Stonehenge. He was utterly alone with these hoary ruins on that treeless plain, and retains, after a third of a century, a vivid reminiscence of the scene and its suggestions.
The attribution of these remains to the
