Obfervatlons on the TLIU. 43 



ceriiing them have been incrcafed by the writers of zoologr 

 having confounded one fpecies with the other. Another 

 fource of error probably exilts in lonie real diihmilarity be- 

 tween the elk or moofc of Europe, and the ell: and moofc of 

 North America. 



The dcfcription of the moofe-deer by Mr. Diidlcv, (Phi- 

 lofoph. Tranf. No. 368, p. 165.) I have every reafon to be- 

 lieve, is cprrecl as far as it goes; but it appH-es flrittjy to .the- 

 nioofe, and not to the elk, which is a difl'erent animal. . , 



M, De Buftbn (Hiiloire Naturclle, L'Elan et Le Renfie,)- 

 appears, in feveral places, to have mingled the defcriptions 

 of both animals, and certainly coniidered elk and mooie as 

 two names for the fame creature. And this is the more re- 

 markable, as the feveral quotations which he has made from 

 different authors contain manifeft contraditSiions ; as will be 

 evident to any perfon who has feen either the moofe or the 

 elk*. The reader of M. Dc Buffon, therefore, will not be 

 fnrprifed if he obtain no clear notion of the Elan ; as it is not 

 probable that the illuftrious autlior hinifelf had a diftin6t 

 conception of the fubjcol of his dcfcription. 



In Mr. Smeliie's tranflation of Buffon, Vol. VI.p. 35-", &c. 

 there are feveral additions to the original article. The ani- 

 mal and head of an animal, mentioned by IMr. Alloniond, 

 were probably of the mooie kind. 



Dr. Goidhnith (Hift. of the Earth and Anim. Nature^ 

 art. Elk,) acknowledges the dilcordancy of the various hif- 

 torics of the elk, w'hich he alfo fuppofes to be the fame with 

 the moofe ; and he labours, very ineftectually, to reconcile 

 tiie defcriptions of authors. The figure given by him ro- 

 fembles neither the elk nor the moofe ; and the reader will 

 conclude the Doctor's account with as little fatisfaetion as 

 be appears himfeif to have done, when he fays, " After all,' 

 this animal is but indifferently and confufedly defcriljcd byi 

 authors," he. 



t 



^ See p. ;4-j, Tome III. p. 2. edit. Svo. a Paris, lyvs* The defcrip- 



t;on {infcrtcdp. 554 of the fame edition), copied from the Memoirs of 

 the Academy of Sciences, is of the European elk, and rcfembles the moofc 

 more than the elk of America; to which, however, it bears » greater 

 likciief* than 13 obfti Vdble between this laft iind the moofe. it 



G 3 'The 



