; REINDEER. 155 



The fossil aud Lapland types arc similar in the absence of palination and number of snags. 



The Siberian differs from the Lapland in a greater breadth of horn, a greater number of 

 snags, and a general disposition to palmation, not shown, as in the American and Greenland tj'pes, 

 by a broad flat ploughshare, but by curved aud flattened snags. 



The American Reindeer are now admitted by most naturalists to be not only distinct from 

 the Lapland Deer, but also to form two distinct species between themselve.s. These are the Barren 

 Ground Reindeer, or Caribou, and the Woodland Reindeer. The chief distinction between these 

 two is, that the adult Bari'cn-Grfiund Caribou has a flat, triangidnr, vertically jirojecting brow 

 antler, while the brow-antler of the Woodland Caribou is shorter, stronger, and less flattened. In 

 the Barren-Ground species the flat-liladed brow-antler springs sometimes from the right horn, 

 sometimes from the left. In many there is a blade from each side, and in a considerable nmnber 

 it is altogether absent ; the plate is in general widest at its extremity, and is set with four or 

 five points which are sometimes slightly recui'ved.* 



The individuals inhabiting Greenland have brow antlers midway between those of the Barren- 

 Ground Caribou and tlie Woodland Caribou. They are not exactly the same as either, but liker 

 either than either the Lapland or the Siberian form. They have the triangular jn'ojecting blade ; 

 but its handle is longer and the blade smaller than that of the Barren-Ground Caribou, while the 

 blade is larger and the handle thinner and longer than that of the Woodland species. 



The Reindeer found in Spitzbergen has the same kind of brow antler as the Greenland 

 specimens, but with the blade more develoj)ed and curved. 



Mr. Alfred Newton, speaking of the Deer which he saw on his visits to Spitzbergen, says, 

 " These Deer are tolerably abundant. They are certainly smaller than the Ijapland Reindeer, 

 whether wild or tame ; and though I can hardly pi-ofess to speak generally on the subject, yet all 

 the antlers which I saw in Spitzbei'gen seemed to me to be slighter in the beam than the Conti- 

 nental race ; nevertheless, the j)oints being in old Stags considerably elongated, the expanse of 

 antler was not much inferioi'. The average type of a good Spitzbergen head is vei'y well rejire- 

 sented by the first figure in the 'Fauna Boreale- Americana ' (vol. i. jj. 240), of the so-called 

 Barren-Ground Caribou (Ckuvt's takandus, var. ARtTicis Bichardnoii), and it is probable that the 

 same causes which influence tlie development of the antlers in the Reindeer of the Barren Grounds 

 of North America, affect in like manner those of their Spitzbergen brethren." ISIr. Lauiont, whum 

 I have consulted on the subject, agrees with Mr. Newton in the resemblance wliicli tlie horns nf 

 the Spitzbergen Reindeer bear to those of the Amei'ican species. 



Now, the resemblance between them is too constant, and, as will be seen by the figures, is 

 too considerable to be a matter of accident or coincidence. I cannot adopt the idea of the sauu- 

 phj'sical causes in different countries influencing the development of the antlers in the 8anu=? 

 direction. I can iniderstand cold or heat adding thickness to a fleece, or reducing or increasing 

 the dimensions of a horn, but shape and form are things which do not fall under tlie same 

 category. Similarity of form is, according to my view, to bo accounted for by affinity and nothing 

 else. Ui5on this princijjle, there must be nearer affinity between the Greenland and American 

 than between the Greenland and the Lapland deer, a circumstance which indicates a differenc^c 

 in the distribution of plants and of mammals in Greenland. Had it been (as one would at 

 first expect fi'om the position of Greenland) tlial its flora was more allied to that of Amci'ica 



* KiCH.vRDSON, " Faun. Bor. Amer." 1839. 



