CONGENERS. 325 



seen specimens of the Moose antlers, where the tines upon the 

 palms were quite as stout and as long as on any from the Euro- 

 pean variety, and the examiner would be inclined to assign to 

 them an eastern origin, though the large size might make him 

 hesitate, wliile I met with no specimens in the east where it 

 w^ould be little exaggeration to say that the whole antler was one 

 great palm, as in the Halifax specimen shown in the illustration 

 {ante, p. 193). I think all careful observers who have examined 

 large numbers of both varieties, will agree with me that the 

 antlers of the Moose are, as a general rule, more palmated, and 

 have less conspicuous tines than those of the Swedish Elk. While 

 I have selected those for illustration, which I believed would give 

 a fair idea of the avei-age form of the Elk's antlers, I met with 

 none of those extreme cases sometimes met witli here, and none 

 showing larger relative palms and less tines than some of these 

 illustrated (see ante, pp. 195, 199). I may say the same of the 

 illustrations of the American variety, though the specimen from 

 the Halifax museum should, undoubtedly, be considered as bor- 

 dering on the extreme. 



The difference, then, consists in the size and color of the an- 

 imals, and in tlie form of the antler, though in the latter the 

 same general characteristics prevail in both. While these dif- 

 ferences occur in a majority of cases, they are by no means uni- 

 versal, nor are entire similitudes in these regards extremely rare, 

 or even uncommon. 



Some comparative anatomists or osteologists have supposed 

 they could discover a difference in the forms of the crania, which 

 others could not see. While the form of the skull in each of 

 the species of this genus is very constant, and so of great value 

 in this investigation, a slight, and at most a doubtful, difference 

 cannot be allowed a controlling influence. For myself I have 

 been unable to find the supposed difference, and am by no means 

 prepared to admit its actual existence. The most that has been 

 claimed is, that one is a little broader than the other, which, 

 however, I repeat, is not an accepted fact. Were the difference 

 really appreciable, it would be universally recognized, for it is 

 open to the inspection of all. 



In all other respects these animals are precisely alike, at least 

 I can detect no other differences, and I know of no one who has 

 pretended to do so. 



I will refer to a few of the similitudes, some of which are 

 peculiar to this animal. 



