RUMINANTIA CERVINAE RANGIFER CARIBOU 633 



RANGIFER, Ham. Smith. 



Rangifer, HAM. SMITH. Griffith's Cuvier, V, 1827, 304. 

 "Tarandus, (GRAY,) KAUP Europ. Thierwelt, 1829." 

 (GRAY,) Knowsley Menagerie, 1850. 



Muzzle entirely covered with hair ; the tear-bag small, covered with a pencil of hau'8. The fur is brittle ; in summer, 

 short ; in winter, longer, whiter ; of the throat, longer. The hoofs are broad, depressed, and bent in at the tip. The 

 external metatarsal gland is above the middle of the leg. Horns, in both sexes, elongate, subcylindric, with the basal 

 branches and tip dilated and palmated ; of the females, smaller. Skull, with rather large nose cavity ; about half as long 

 as the distance to the first grinder ; the intermaxillary moderate, nearly reaching to the nasal ; a small, very shallow, 

 suborbital pit. 



The preceding diagnosis, like that of Alee, is taken from Gray's " Knowsley Menagerie," 

 and appears to embrace all the characteristics of the reindeer. The number of species is some 

 what uncertain. We have two, in all probability, in North America, one peculiar to this 

 continent, including Greenland, the other possibly identical with that of the Old World. 



RANGIFER CARIBOU. 



Woodland Caribou Reindeer. 



Cervus tarandus caribou, KERR, Linneeus, 1792, 297. 



Rangifer caribou, AUD. & BACH., N. Am. Quad. Ill, 1853, 111 ; pi. cxxvi. 



Cervus tarandus, HARI.AV, F. Am. 1825, 232. (Desc. from Europ. Sp.?) 



GODMAN, Am. N. H. II, 283. 



Rangifer tarandus, DE KAY, N. Y. Zool. I, 1842, 121. 

 Cervus tarandus sylvestris, RICH. F. B. Am. I, 1829, 238. 

 Tarandus rangifer, OGILBY, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. IV, 1836, 134. (In part.) 



J. E. GRAY, Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. XV11I, 1850, 225. (In part.) 

 Cervus hastalis, AGASSIZ, Pr. Bost. Soc. N. H. II, 1846, 188. 

 Tarandus hastalis, BAIRD, Rep. U. S. Pat. Off. Rep. Agricultural for 1851, (1852,) 108. 



COLOR. Tips of hairs light dun gray, whiter on the neck than elsewhere ; nose, ears, outer surface of legs and shoulders, 

 brownish. Neck and throat dull white ; a faint whitish patch on the sides of shoulders. Belly and tail white ; outside of legs 

 white ; a band of white around all the legs adjoining the hoofs. 



Length of an animal about two and a half years old: To root of tail, 72 inches; tail vertebrae, 4 inches; with hairs, 6.50; 

 height of shoulder, 42 inches ; from nose to ear, 14; height of ear behind, 5 inches. 



I have condensed the description of the color of this species from Audubon and Bachman, not 

 having at hand the means of furnishing an original account of the animal. The horns vary 

 exceedingly, scarcely two, even of the same individual, being alike. In the accompanying 

 figures I have given outlines of some of those in the Smithsonian collection ; one an adult from 

 Isle Royale, Lake Superior ; the others, younger, from near Montreal. 



The relationships of this species to the European reindeer are not well ascertained. By some 

 zoologists it is supposed to be the same ; by others different. The opinion is gaining ground 

 that the barren ground reindeer is distinct, and as this species cuts it off from the arctic circle, 

 it would seem most probable that it cannot be the same with the animal inhabiting the circum- 

 polar region of the Old World. 

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