Mar. 1899. MAMMALS OF THE OLYMPIC MOUNTAINS ELLIOT. 263 



those of the Rocky Mountain Wapiti, and this is the normal style. 

 But there appears to be an inclination to wander from the type, 

 so it is not uncommon to find antlers of most bizarre forms. 

 These, however, are no indication that their bearers represent 

 distinct species, and one would be very unwise who should 

 attempt to create one upon such an insecure foundation. Five 

 bulls were killed by my party, all but one, old inhabitants of the 

 Olympics, but the antlers of no one of them bore much resem- 

 blance to any of the others, as the photographs accompanying 

 this paper will show. Two of them, while belonging to very 

 large bulls, had but five points on each horn, but these differed 

 widely in their general shape and extent of spread. The third 

 pair were evenly branched, with a decided cup at the crown, sur- 

 rounded by higher points. The brow tines, however, project 

 almost directly forward, and were without the graceful upward 

 curve seen in the typical style. These antlers had seventeen 

 points. The fourth was a very extraordinary pair, being palmated 

 from the burr for nearly the entire length of the beam. The ant- 

 lers are heavy and massive, the tines being very long, and they 

 also possessed seventeen points. I have seen palmated antlers 

 of wapiti in the Rocky Mountains, as greatly developed as the 

 majority of those found in the Olympics, but out of a very large 

 number examined by myself, procured in all sections of our 

 country inhabited by wapiti, I have never seen any at all 

 approaching the flattened spreading beams of this pair. The 

 bull that carried them was a very old animal, and evidently of 

 great pugnacity, for he was covered with wounds received in 

 battle, some of which would probably have caused his death 

 ultimately. I give below the measurements of the antlers of these 

 four bulls. 



Failing to find any specific or subspecific character on the ant- 

 lers, for any deviation from the typical style, (which is that of the 

 Rocky Mountain Wapiti), must be considered accidental, we 

 must turn to the animal itself, and what do we find. linearly 

 all seasons of the year, except winter, the color of the coat is 

 apparently indistinguishable from that of the Rocky Mountain 

 species, and I have seen a number of heads, killed in winter, 

 that resembled precisely the eastern animal, being in nowise any 

 darker. But as a rule, I believe in winter the head and neck of 

 the Olympic Wapiti, together with the legs, reaching to groin 

 and rump, is black, varying in intensity and in a mixture of 

 brown, among different individuals. This peculiar coloration 



