Page 3 - Masseti _ Zava_2002

a wild game reserve, where hares (''lepri") an d several species of cervids, including
red deer ("cervi"), fallow deer ("daini"), and roe deer ("capriuoli"), roamed quite
untroubled by man. It is almost impossible to say where Ariosto go t his information
about the presence of all these herbivores on the island. The various texts that he
probably consulted, in his search for sources and historical and geographical data
to provide a context for his stories, must have included the works of famous classica!
geographers and historians, such as Pliny the Elder, Strabo, Ptolemy, Pomponius
Mela, Marco Polo, and Fazio degli Uberti. Ariosto may have also consulted the
many geographical and topographical maps, and the reports of journeys and
explorations held at the time in the Biblioteca Estense ofFerrara (cf. Fragapane,
1993). Since it is impossible to verify the quality of the sources utilized by Ariosto
in the sixteenth century, we have to consign the existence of deer on Lampedusa
in the Middle Ages to the sphere of literary invention.

CORSICAN RED DEER CERVUS ELAPHUS CORSICANUS (ERXLEBEN, 1777) ON
LAMPEDUSA
Effectively, the former existence of a population of red deer, Cervus elaphus L.,
1758, on Lampedusa was noted by many writers, such as Calcara (1846, 1847
and 1848), Sanvisente (1849), Avogadro di Vigliano (1880), Sommier (1908),
Giglioli (1912), Kohlmeyer (1959), Zavattari (1960), Riggio (1976), Gibilaro
(1991) and Fragapane (1993). Furthermore, towards the end of the nineteenth
century, in the course ofhis scientific journey on board the steamer Washington
in 1882, the zoologist Enrico Hillier Giglioli collected some deer osteological
materia! which he presented to the Royal Zoologica! Museum ofFlorence (Italy)
- now the Zoologica! Museum "La Specola" of the University of Florence
(MZUF). According to Giglioli (1912), these red deer had survived on
Lampedusa until about 1850, thirthy years before his visit to the island. Part of
this materia! is stili preserved at the MZUF, where i t represents the only surviving
remains of the red deer which inhabited Lampedusa. However, in view of
Giglioli's scientific authority, this materia! confirms without any doubt the
nineteenth century occurrence of red deer o n Lampedusa. In the inventory of the
Collezione degli Animali Vertebrati Italiani del R. Museo di Fisica e Storia Naturale
di Firenze, vol. l, Mammiferi (18 75-1900) there w ere two separate specimens
attributed to the deer of Lampedusa, respectively registered under catalogue
numbers 5. 1709. l. S. and 58. 1700. l. S. The first consisted of a complete skull
with mandible and anders, which was found on Lampedusa around 1850. Giglioli
obtained i t thirty years later from the "Museo del R. Liceo di Girgenti" (Giglio li,
1912). Now, all that remains is the catalogue card entry written by Giglioli
himself, while the specimen has unfortunately been lost. The other specimen is
stili held in the Fiorentine mammal collection under the new catalogue number
MZUF C 11937 (Fig. 1). Giglioli himself confirmed its origin from Lampedusa,

201