THE WILD REINDEER OF NORWAY. 17 



sented by a pair of single points. The brow-antler 

 appears in the second year, and the other branches 

 are gradually assumed, though individual specimens 

 vary much in size and symmetry of antlers. 



The variety found in Spitzbergen appears to be 

 much inferior, both in size and in the development 

 of the horns, to the Norwegian specimens. Several 

 heads, evidently of adult deer, from Spitzbergen, 

 that I have had the opportunity of examining, had 

 the number of points at the top of the horns very 

 irregular, in some instances there were two or three 

 points on the summit of one horn, and only the 

 single beam on the other. 



There is also much difference in appearance 

 between heads from various parts of Norway, 

 some being much thicker and heavier in the beam 

 than others. 



One peculiarity in the reindeer seems to consist 

 in the fact that more than one brow-antler is seldom 

 formed, the place of the other being marked by a 

 rudimentary tubercle. The large head, of which 

 measurements are given in the present article, is an 

 exception, as two brow-antlers exist, one being 

 smaller than the other. 



There is a prevailing idea that the reindeer uses 

 its broad frontal antlers to plough up the snow in 

 winter when searching for the moss on which it 

 principally subsists during that period ; but this, I 



