192 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 



moval as much as it is by nature in the female ; possibly it might 

 be so if those organs were removed before they had exercised 

 their influence upon the organs of nutrition upon which the antler 

 depends for its growth. This is a question I have in vain en- 

 deavored to settle ; but I have never been able to save a fawn 

 castrated before the first antler had grown. From the fact that 

 the antler grown after the operation, never exceeds, or even 

 equals in size the one previously grown, I will venture the 

 opinion that no antler would grow on the male castrated when 

 very young and before the antler has made an appreciable start, 

 so that he would alwaj^s resemble the doe in this regard, but 

 in trying this experiment we must remember that the fawn is 

 born with the rudiments of the antler already developed, and that 

 frequently an appreciable growth may be observed during the first 

 year of its life, if it is an early fawn. In early fawns, this growth 

 is sometimes sufficient to perforate the skin the first season 



What has been said would be a sufficient answer to Buffon's 

 theory, that the antlers of the Cervidae are vegetable growths on 

 the animal body, had not all subsequent authors discarded his 

 assumption as unworthy of the least consideration. 



It is indeed remarkable that an author so renowned, and who 

 devoted so much time and labor to the study of natural history, 

 should have observed so superficially as to render such an error 

 possible when a ver}^ little examination would have prevented it. 



We will now consider the forms and locations and uses of 

 the antlers of the different species of the deer. I have already 

 alluded to the fact tliat these have been too much relied upon to 

 distinguish species ; still they are by no means to be overlooked' 

 in determining classifications. True, the fawns and the females, 

 with the exception of the reindeer, are always without this evi- 

 dence, to tell of the species ; it is much if they can aid us in 

 placing the older males. We shall see, however, that even for 

 this they are not reliable, for some very distinct species have 

 antlers precisely alike, while sometimes we shall find them widely 

 variant in different localities on the same species. After all, our 

 investigations of the natural history of these animals would be 

 very imperfect, without a careful study of the forms, locations, 

 and uses of the antlers, in addition to what has been said of their 

 structure and mode of growth. 



It may be proper to explain preliminarily, the terms used in 

 the description of this appendage of the deer. It has been often, 



