RUMINANTIA. 187 



head^ have at their base a ring of bony tubercles, which, as 

 they enlarge, compress and obliterate the vessels of that skin. 

 It becomes dry and is thrown off; the bony prominences, being 

 laid bare, at the expiration of a certain period separate from 

 the cranium to which they were attached ; they fall and the 

 animal remains defenceless. Others, however, are re-pro- 

 duced generally larger than before, and destined to undergo 

 the same fate. These horns, purely osseous, and subject to 

 periodical changes, are styled antlers. 



Cervus, Lin. 



The Stags, consequently, are the only Ruminantia which have heads 

 armed with antlers ; the females, however, the Rein-Deer alone ex- 

 cepted, are always without them. The substance of these antlers, 

 when completely developed, is that of a dense bone without pores 

 or sinus. Their figure varies greatly according to the species, and 

 even in each, species at different ages. These animals are exces- 

 sively fleet, live commonly in the forest, ^nd feed on leaves, buds, 

 grasses, 8cc. 



We distinguish in the first place those species whose antlers are 

 either wholly or partially flattened, viz. 



C. alces, L. ; Elk or Elend, in the north of Europe ; Moose- 

 Deer of the Americans 5 Original of the Canadians j Buff. Supp. 

 VII, Ixxx. (The Moose.) As large as a horse and sometimes 

 larger 5 stands very high j the muzzle cartilaginous and in- 

 flated 5 a sort of goitre, or pendulous swelling, variously 

 shaped, under the throat; hair always very stiff and of a more 

 or less deep ash-colour. The antlers, at first simple, (m dague,) 

 and then divided into narrow slips, assume, in the fifth year, 

 the form of a triangular blade, denticulated on the external edge 

 and mounted on a pedicle. They increase with age so as to 

 weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and to have fourteen branches to 

 each horn. The Moose lives in small troops, and inhabits the 

 marshy forests of the north of both continents. Its skin is valua- 

 ble for various purposes. 



C. tarandus, L., Buff. Supp. Ill, xviii, bis. (The Rein-Deer.) 

 Size of a Stag, but has shorter and stouter legs; both sexes 

 have antlers, divided into several branches, at first slender and 

 pointed, and terminating by age in broad denticulated palms ; 

 the hair, which is brown in summer, becomes white in winter.(l) 



(1) It is probably owing to this change that the ancients were induced to be- 

 lieve that the tarandus could assume any colour it wished. 



