LÖNNBERG, TAXONOMIC NOTES ABOUT PALEARCTIC REINDEER. 13 



tlie year 1774^ and from this may be quoted the following. 

 »There is some difference in size among the Reindeer. Those 

 that are fed on the pastures of the fells during spring, sum- 

 mer and autumn are called Fell-Reindeer (»Fjäll-Renar») and 

 are smaller in growth, but those that as well during winter 

 as summer live in the woodland are larger and called Wood- 

 land-Reindeer (»Skogs-Renar»). Wild Reindeer are not any 

 other kind of Reindeer; these are seldom seen in the forests 

 of Lapland (»Lappmarken»), but dwell in the wildernesses 

 between Lapland and the lower country [i. e. the coast- 

 district at the Gulf of Bothnia]. They are somewhat larger 

 t han the Woodland-Reindeer mentioned, and twice as large 

 as the Fell-Reindeer» — — — — . He adds that these wild 

 Reindeer, although they were shy, some times in the spring 

 when the snow was frozen with a heavy crust went down 

 to the coast (of the Gulf of Bothnia) and then were killed 

 by »cruel people» in spite of that this was strongly for- 

 bidden. »Since the lower country became more and more 

 cultivated and the best parts of it occupied by settlements, 

 these innocent animals have become more and more molested 

 and exterminated and they are therefore not seen in so 

 great number now as in former days. It happens sometimes 

 that some flock during the rutting season comes so near 

 towards Lapland that it mixes with tame Reindeer, but as 

 soon as the rutting season has passed, or they perceive people 

 or dögs, they flee in great haste away». From this account 

 it is apparent that still during the låter part of the eight- 

 eenth century a race of very large wild Reindeer lived in the 

 wildernesses, wide moors and forests, below the haunts of 

 the Lapland Reindeer, thus to the east of and below the 

 mountains and fells that form the watershed of the penin- 

 sula. These Reindeer lived thus in other districts and had 

 different biological habits than the Lapland Reindeer, with 

 which they did not mix, or only accidentally did so during 

 the rutting season. There can hardly be any doubt that 

 this large Woodland Reindeer was identical with the one 

 described above as Raiigijer tarandus fennicus, as it differed 

 so widely in size and habits from the Reindeer, wild as well 

 as tame, which still lives on the fells of Sweden and Xor- 



^ »Afhandling om Renen». Kgl. Wet. Acad. Handlingar. Vol. XXXV. 

 Stockholm 1774. 



