40 Account of the 



ference between the Elk and the common American 

 deer. 



The Elk sheds his horns annually. This, in Penn- 

 sylvania, is done towards the end of February, or the 

 beginning of March*. By the end of April, the new 

 horns are often a foot long. In June, they are still 

 very tender, and, by the beginning of August, they 

 have come to their full size. When the horns are 

 young, they are covered with a fine hair, which gives 

 them a velvet-like appearance : from which circum- 

 stance, the hunters call it the velvet-state. During 

 the growth of the horns, this velvet or pile seems to 

 excite an uneasy sensation in the animal, for he is of- 

 ten observed to rub his horns against trees, &c, by 

 which means he removes the velvet. 



The hunters assert, that, by castrating the Elk, 

 they can " set," to use their own phrase, his horns : 

 that is, if the horns be full grown, when the operation 

 is performed, they will not be shed ; and, if they are 

 only young, they will be prevented from growing. If 

 it be true, as is very generally asserted, that the ope- 

 ration of castration produces these effects in the com- 

 mon deer, or Cervus Virginianus, there can seem to 

 be no cause of doubt concerning the effects of the ope- 

 ration in the case of the Elk. 



similar point on the inside of the right horn : and so alternately." 

 Dr. Smith, in the Medical Jie/iository, p. 171. I rather doubt the 

 accuracy of this statement. 



* Dr. Smith was informed, that the Elk drops his horns in May. 



