226 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSION. 



" schelk," described as a powerful and dangerous beast. This name has been a 

 stumbling block to scholars for years, and opinions vary as to whether it was a wild 

 stallion, — at all times a savage animal, — or a lone survivor of the Megaceros, or 

 Irish elk. In this connection it may be well to remark that the Irish elk and the 

 true elk were not closely related beyond the fact that both were members of the 

 Deer Family. The Irish elk, which was common in Europe throughout the glacial 

 and post-glacial periods, living down nearly or quite to the historic period, was noth- 

 ing more than a gigantic fallow deer, as can be readily seen by a comparison of the 

 antlers of the two species. 



The Old World elk is still found in some of the large game preserves of eastern 

 Germany, where the Emperor, with his somewhat remarkable ideas of sportsman- 

 ship, annually adds several to his list of slaughtered game. They are comparatively 

 abundant in Scandinavia, especially in Norway, where they are preserved with great 

 care. They still survive in considerable numbers in Russia and Siberia as far east 

 as Amurland. 



Without going into a detailed description of the anatomical differences between 

 the European elk and the American moose (and in fact we greatly need a series of 

 European and Siberian specimens for comparison with the American forms), it is 

 sufficient to say that the Old World animal is much smaller in size and lighter in 

 color. The antlers, also, are less elaborate and smaller in the European animal, and 

 correspond to the stage of development reached by the average three-year-old bull 

 of Eastern Canada. There is a marked separation of the main antler and the brow 

 antlers. Tliat this deterioration of both body and antler is due partly to long 

 continued elimination of the best bulls, and partly to inbreeding, is most probable. 

 We know that the decline of the European red deer is due to these causes, and also 

 that a similar process of deterioration is showing among certain outlying sections of 

 the eastern moose. It w'as long considered by European naturalists that the type 

 species of this group, known as Alecs machlis, was uniform throughout its circum- 

 polar distribution, in the north of both hemispheres. 



The American view that nearly all animals in this country represent species 

 distinct from their European congeners is now generally accepted, and the name 

 Alecs anicricaints has been given to the American form. 



The comparatively slight divergence of the two types at the extreme east and 

 west limits of their range, namely, Norway and eastern Canada, would indicate that 

 the period of separation of the various members of the genus is not, geologically 

 speaking, of great antiquity. 



The name Moose is an Algonquin name, meaning a wood eater or browser, and is 



