118 Mr. Wittich on the Horns of the 



DESCRIPTION OF THE HORNS OF THE PRUSSIAN ELK; 



DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEM AND THOSE 



OF THE AMERICAN MOOSE-DEER*. 



BY WILLIAM WITTICH, ESQ. 



T 



HE European elk and the American moose-deer are 

 still considered by naturalists as belonging to the same 

 species. Pennant and even Cuvier seem to have no doubt 

 respecting their identity. Blumenbach and some other na- 

 turalists, indeed, are less decisive in their opinions ; but 

 their doubts rest on conjecture. The reason of this un- 

 certainty seems to be, that a sufficient number of data have 

 not yet been accumulated, to enable the promoters of science 

 to form a clear and decisive judgment. The small 

 number of facts which till now have been well established, 

 refer to one side of the question ; they regard almost exclu- 

 sively the American moose-deer. This animal has often been 

 brought to France and England from the transatlantic shores, 

 where it is found in numerous herds ; and on our continent it 

 has been subjected to a more minute and accurate investiga- 

 tion. But the Scandinavian elk has perhaps never found its 

 way to London or Paris ; and what I dare not affirm posi- 

 tively of the Scandinavian elk, I believe I may assert with 

 certainty of the Prussian it was never seen in London or 

 Paris. 



The same may be observed respecting the collections of elk- 

 horns: they consist almost exclusively of horns of the moose- 

 deer ; and what is not known to belong distinctly to that spe- 

 cies is somewhat doubtful. That is the case with the collec- 

 tion in the British Museum; and if I may judge according to 

 the drawings given in Cuvier's great work (Reclierches sur les 

 Ossemens Fossiles 9 torn, iv., pi. iv. 24 29), the Parisian col- 

 lection likewise does not contain the horns of the Prussian elk- 

 deer. As they, however, seem to exhibit in some points a 

 different formation, I shall give here the description of a pair 



* Cervus Alces, Linn. 



