Tradition and the poets have contrived to persuade us that the fever of Love becomes epidemic in the spring. This, however, is by no means true, at any rate in so far as what we are pleased to call the “lower animals” are concerned. For with many, as for example the Deer and the Bats, this fever is not aroused till the time of autumn plenty. With regard to the deer, we can find a reason for this. It is determined in part by the period of gestation, and in part by the peculiar character of the most conspicuous of the male secondary sexual characters—the antlers. The deer, at any rate of the northern hemisphere, carry their young about eight months. Now it is important that they should make their entry into the world just as the food supply is increasing and the temperature is rising. With the summer before them the young have time to gather strength for the encounter with their first winter. We have a striking witness to the truth of this contention in the fact that when the Indian Spotted Deer, or Chital, was first introduced into Europe, nearly all the fawns perished owing to having been born in winter; later, the females took to calving in spring, and from thence onwards the species has held its own among us. As touching the stags. The antlers, as everybody knows, are shed annually, and their renewal entails a very considerable strain on the system. As a consequence, it is necessary that this period of stress should fall after the trial of winter is overpast, and with the genial summer before them. From the end of March, when the old weapons are shed, till July, the masterful males of the community wander at large, seeking seclusion and avoiding all occasion of quarrel; for they are not only defenceless, but threatened with disaster should any accident befall the growing horns, which, during their formation, are exceedingly sensitive. Even a slight blow would not only spoil their shapely proportions, but, further, might render them useless in the warfare that is before them.