60 Bein-deer — Elk — Folar Bear — Glutton. 



haunts by the zoologists of central Europe ; and the history 

 even of such of them as are best known, for example, the 

 i-ein-deer, elk, polar bear, the glutton, and lemming, still pre- 

 sents numerous desiderata. 



Of all the animals of Lapland, the rein-deer is the one which 

 ought most to attract, and which, in fact, has really obtained 

 the attention of travellers ; but, from that very circumstance, 

 its history has become obscured by doubts and fables with- 

 out number. It will be easy for the members of the expe- 

 dition to solve the one, and dissipate the other, by collect- 

 ing all the materials for a faithful relation of this animal's 

 manners, and of all the circumstances which render it so use- 

 ful to the Laplanders, and so remarkable to zoologists. The 

 points which it appears to us it would be most useful to illus- 

 trate are, — the effects which castration produces on the males, 

 particularly in regard to their antlers, effects which appear to 

 vary according to the period and circumstances in which cas- 

 tration is performed : the state of the female's horns, appa- 

 rently as variable ; finally, the difference in the races which 

 may exist of this species. It will be useful to obtain the skins 

 and crania of the fawns at different ages, as well as a male 

 and female of the wild rein-deer, taken in Spitzbergen or in 

 one of the circles of Lapland, where the race passes for being 

 most completely free from any intei'mixture with the domes- 

 ticated rein-deer. 



The young of the elk ai-e still rarer in collections than those 

 of the rein-deei', and the possession of the adult male is of it- 

 self desirable, as well as precise information respecting the 

 greatest size it attains, and the vai'iety in the form and size of 

 its antlers. 



It is the young also that we have most to desire in regard 

 to the polar bear. The comparison of them with the young 

 of other species, cannot fail to give rise to some interesting 

 remarks. All that has been related of this formidable spe- 

 cies, and of its ferocity in spring, it will be of great advantage 

 to subject to revision. 



We likewise have details, in part contradictory, transmitted 

 to us by travellers on the habits of the glutton. Many even 

 of the facts generally admitted regarding it are not sufhcient- 



