RUMINANTIA CERVINAE CERVUS CANADENSIS. 



641 



hair in winter. Color, red brown ; rump with a very large pale disk extending far above the 

 base of the tail, and with a black streak on each side of it ; male with hair elongated, black, 

 with reddish tips. 



CERVUS ELAPHUS. Hoofs narrow, triangular ; tail moderate ; hair harsh. Color, brown ; 

 rump with a pale spot extending rather above the upper surface of the base of the tail. 



The characteristics here given are very appreciable, and will readily serve to distinguish the 

 two. 



Fig. 11. Cervus canadensis, No. 3253. California. Eight horn from inside. Size, 9.90 

 inches to the inch. 



The horns of the elk, (see fig. 11,) in their perfect condition, are nearly cylindrical, or rather 

 slightly oval, in transverse section, the compression antero-posteriorly for the basal half, after 

 which they flatten out a little more. The surfaces are covered very thickly with warts or pus 

 tular elevations, arranged in lines separated by longitudinal grooves ; the points of the antlers 

 are generally worn smooth and sharp, these bone white ; the rest of the horn in its perfect con 

 dition is almost a walnut brown. 



In the elk all the snags spring from the anterior face of the horn. Two long ones start from the 

 very base of the horn, one immediately above the other, the lower proceeding parallel with 

 the axis of the head, the upper more divergent laterally, so that the points are about eight 

 inches apart. At the ends of the first and second thirds of the main stem, from the base 

 spring a third and fourth snag, up to which point the posterior outline is tolerably straight ; 

 81 L 



