REINDEER AND ITS ORIGIN 
3 
animals of Greenland have to be considered more in detail. It 
is especially the beasts or mammals that are of importance 
because their distribution and geological history are better 
known than those of the smaller animals. They also enable 
us to readily appreciate the more recent changes in the fauna, 
and the causes which have led to them. 
The most noteworthy and best known of the Greenland 
mammals is the reindeer. The term reindeer (Rangifer 
tarandus) is employed for the sake of convenience in its wide 
sense. In America it has been the custom for many years 
past to distinguish under the names of “ barren-ground 
caribou,” and “ woodland caribou ” two strikingly different 
forms which occur on the continent, the term “ caribou ” 
being probably derived from the Indian word “ maccaribo.” 
Not only have these two kinds of 'reindeer dissimilar habits, 
they also differ from one another in size, and in the structure 
of their skulls and antlers. More recently, smaller groups of 
reindeer have been discovered, showing distinctive characters 
in their antlers alone. Several of the nine forms thus 
recognised as American are founded upon comparatively 
slight differences. An illustrated account of these various 
American reindeer has been given by Mr. Madison Grant-.* 
Mr. Lydekker f holds that they and the Old World forms 
are all referable to one single species, of which he distin¬ 
guishes six varieties. Whether these differences are to be 
regarded as specific or varietal is a matter of opinion, but, 
as the antlers of reindeer are so very variable, it has been 
suggested by Professor Camerano that the structure of the 
skull might be utilised to greater advantage in discriminating 
between the various varieties or species. In his researches 
on the Spitsbergen form, he argues that there are three 
species, viz., the reindeer of Spitsbergen (R. spitsbergensis). 
the one inhabiting Greenland, Norway, Lapland and part of 
Siberia (R. tarandus), and lastly the American reindeer (R. 
caribou). Among the last two species he distinguishes again 
between the reindeer possessing cylindrical (cylindricornis) 
and those having compressed (compressicornis) antlers. 
It is worthy of note that the reindeer of Scandinavia and 
* Grant, Madison, “ The Caribou.” 
f Lydekker, R., “ The Deer of all Lands,” p. 33. 
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