THE ANTLERS. 185 



From him I learned that the male reindeer only are used for 

 draft or burden. These are usually castrated when three years 

 old. This is not done by amputation as with us, but by bruising 

 and crushing the testicle with the teeth, without opening the 

 scrotum and removing the member. This of necessity is but 

 very imperfect castration, and while it may destroy the capacity 

 for generation, it does not entirely remove desire, and moderates 

 without destroying the spirits of the animal. Were the opera- 

 tion complete, it might leave the animal so dull and stupid as to 

 impair, if it did not destroy, his usefulness. 



It had never occurred to the Lapp, that this operation had any 

 influence on the growth of the antlers, but he supposed they were 

 cast off and renewed on the mutilated as on the perfect animal. 

 On reflection, however, he remembered that many carried the 

 velvet longer than usual, and that in a few instances the deer 

 had carried their antlers through the winter, and it might be 

 that the antlers were broken off near the head instead of being 

 detached at the articulation as on the perfect animal. 



My conclusion was, from all the information I could gather, 

 that complete castration of the reindeer has the same effect on 

 the growth of their antlers as on other deer, but that in Lapland 

 the operation is usually very imperfect, and so the effect is less, 

 and sometimes is so little, that the antler still matures, and is 

 regularly cast oft' every year, while on others the operation is 

 more complete, when the antler never matures, but is broken off 

 near the head when it becomes frozen through, and from the 

 stump a new antler grows the following year, as we shall pres- 

 ently see is the case with other deer. 



It is not remarkable that facts like these should be quite over- 

 looked by the Lapps, for to them they have no interest ; and the 

 obliging Lapp was no doubt much surprised that I should come 

 so far to make inquiries about matters which to him were so ut- 

 terly unimportant, for he could not see how they could help to 

 fill the pot. 



But even naturalists, if they have not entirely overlooked the 

 subject, have not deemed it of sufficient importance to institute 

 careful experiments so as to arrive at correct conclusions. While 

 most writers on the Cervidte have alluded to the subject, they 

 have generally despatched it in a paragraph or two, in which 

 they have given vague rumors, or adopted loose statements from 

 careless observers, and so as might be expected they have arrived 

 at contradictory or very unsatisfactory conclusions. 



