DEER. 55 



and their tails just two inches long. Two of tliem, in a 

 scale, weighed down just one copper halfpenny, which 13 

 about the third of an ounce avoirdupois ; so that I sup- 

 pose they are the smallest quadrupeds in this island. A 

 full-grown miis medius domesticus weighs, I find, one ounce 

 lumping weight, which is more than six times as much as the 

 mouse above, and measures, from nose to rump, four inches 

 and a quarter, and the same in its tail, We have had a very 

 severe frost and deep snow this month. My thermometer 

 was one day fourteen degrees and a half below the freezing 

 point, within doors. The tender evergreens were injured 

 pretty much. It was very providential that the air was 

 still, and the ground well covered with snow, else vegetation 

 in general must have suffered prodigiously. There is reason 

 to believe that some days were more severe than any since 

 the year 1739-40.* 



LETTEE XIY. 



TO THE SAME. 



Selborne, March 12, 1768. 

 Deae Sie, — If some curious gentleman would procure the 

 head of a fallow deer and have it dissected, he would 

 find it furnished with two spiracula, or breathing-places,* 

 besides the nostrils ; probably analogous to the puncta 

 lachrymalia, " lachrymal ducts," t in the human head. When 

 deer are thirsty, they plunge their noses, hke some horses, 

 very deep under water, while in the act of drinking, and 

 continue them in that situation for a considerable time ; but, 

 to ob\4ate any inconveniency, they can open two vents, one 

 at the inner corner of each eje, having a communication 

 with the nose. Here seems to be an extraordinary provi- 

 sion of nature worthy oiu- attention, and which has not, 



* See Letter LXI. 

 t The slits beneath the eyes of deer are certainly to facilitate breathing, as 

 all keepers know. The separation of the nerves and blood vessels on the 

 cheeks of deer docs not affect the horns in any great degree, or even tho 

 cutting of the spermatic cord. Any injury, however, to the testicles in aU 

 cases either retards or alters the growth of the horns.— Ed. 



