Moose Deer, — -Alces Americana. 61 



The males, and in some species the females, are provided with solid 

 branching horns or antlers, which fall off and are renewed each year, becoming 

 hirger and more numerously branched as the age of the animal increases. — 

 'File greater number of deer also have immediately below the eyes, lachrymal 

 sinuses or " tear pits" as they are sometimes called. These' consist of small 

 oval sacs or folds of the skin, constituting cavities of greater or less depth, 

 the size varying with the species or individual. The function of these organs 

 has not yet been ascertained. !Many zoologists suppose them to be in some 

 way connected with the respiration of the animals, enabling them to breath 

 more freely in their long fiights, while others imagine them to be accessary 

 to the sense of smell or sight. Notwithstanding these opinions, however, 

 thej^do not communicate with either the eye or the nostril, and it is 

 quite clear that their use in the physiological economy of the animal, is not 

 at all understood. They m.ay be observed immediately below the eyes of . 

 the common deer of Canada. 



The deer are distriljuted over every quarter of the world with the ex- 

 ception of Australia and the central regions of Africa. Nine species, belong- 

 ing to three genera, have been described as inhabiting North America, 

 and of these, six species range into the British possessions, the other three 

 l)ciug confined to the South Yf estern portion of the continent, in the region 

 of Oregon, California, and thence southwardly. We shall, in the following 

 articles, give an account of those found in the British territories, commencing 

 with the Moose. 



Alces Americana. 



The Moose Deer, the largest of the family known in the world, is still 



NoTK. — The following are the deer of North America i — 1. The Barren 

 Ground Caribou {Jl'arandus arctirus^ 2. The Woodland Caribou Tar and us has- 

 talis.') 3. The Moose Deer {Alces Americana^ 4. The Wapite or Canadian 

 ytag {Elaphns Ca.nadeiisis^ 5. The Mule Deer {Cervus marrotis!) 6. The 

 Common K-ed Deer {Ccrvus Virginianus. 7. The Black Tail Deer {Cervus 

 IjewisiL) 8. The Long-tailed Deer {Cervus leumirus ) 9. Kichardson's Deer 

 {Cervas Richardson ii.) 



The moose deer has been described under a variety of names. Until lately it 

 was included within the genus Cervus, but at present the best authorities appear to 

 be of opinion that the European Elk and the American species are sufficiently dis- 

 tinct from other members of the deer tribe to constitute a genus by themselves. 

 When we look at the huge tize, short, stiff neck, and long flexible upper lip of the 

 moose, the animal certainly appears to be of a structure widely different from that 

 of the long necked and graceful deer most common in our forests. In the arrange- 

 ment of the deer, in the English Encyclopedia of Natural History, just published, 

 the European elk is called Alces onalc/iis, and the editors appear to regard the 

 American moose as the same species. Perhaps it is ; but as it has always been 

 found, heretofore, that no matter how much the animals of the two continents may 

 resemble each other, when actual specimens are placed side by side and compared, 

 the result is a separation of the species, it appears to be the better course to con- 

 sider these animals distinct, until the contrary is proved. In a paper by Professer 

 Baird, of the Smithsonian Institution, the moose is called Alces Ayuericaiia, &nA 

 it is very probable that this name will be retained. 



Alces, Latin, an elk. Moose is from an Indian word, monssee, " the eater." 

 Buffon calls the animal, the Ullaud or Origiial. The French Canadians also 

 n'ecegnize it by the latter name. 



The articles on the deer of British North America, in this Journal, will be 

 -Tompiled from DeKay's Natural History of New Yorlc. — Audubon & friachnian's 

 Quadrupeds of North America, — Proceedings of the A'adjray of Natural ScieDces 

 of Philadelphia, and various other books and periodicals. 



