RUMINANTIA CERVINAE RANGIFER GROENLANDICUS. 



635 



Of this species, as of the preceding, I have not the means of presenting any satisfactory 

 diagnosis, although the opinion appears to be gradually gaining ground that it is distinct. The 

 animal is much smaller than the woodland reindeer ; the does not larger than a good-sized 

 sheep. The bucks, when fat, weigh, after being cleaned, from 80 to 125 pounds. Notwith 

 standing this inferiority in size to the caribou of Maine and Canada, the horns are actually 

 much longer, and more graceful in shape, as will be seen by the accompanying figures, taken 

 from Greenland specimens : 



Fig. 7. Rangifer groenlandicus, No. 906. North Greenland. Male. Right horn from inside, showing the palmated 



brow antler. The left horn is without it. Size, 7.08 inches to the inch. 

 Fig. 8. The same species, No. 905, from the same locality, supposed to be a female. No palmated brow antler on 



either side. Right antler from inside. Size, 6.83 inches to the inch. 



The most positive statement in reference to the difference of the barren ground and woodland 

 reindeer is to be found in the work of Dr. King, quoted at the head of this article. In this, 

 the author, after saying that his investigations and collections fully prove them distinct, regrets 

 that the loss of the latter prevents him from substantiating his assertions. He, however, 

 mentions that the barren ground species is peculiar not only in the form of its liver, but in not 

 possessing a receptacle for bile. 



The barren ground reindeer, as its name implies, is found in the barren district of arctic 

 America, constituting the northeastern corner of the continent along the Polar Sea, bounded to 

 the west by Great Sla.ye, Athapasca, Wollaston, and Deer Lakes, and the Coppermine River, and 

 to the south by Churchill Eiver. It, however, ranges along the shores of the Arctic Ocean, 



