228 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



countries of which wolves also are, or were, indi- 

 genous inhabitants, and the winter is the season 

 when wolves pack and become particularly 

 dangerous enemies of deer. From this it would 

 follow that the antlers of the deer have not been 

 developed as weapons of defence, for if that were 

 their character they would be possessed by both 

 sexes, and would last throughout the year. What, 

 then, is their function and history? 



If nothing were known of them beyond the 

 facts briefly stated above, the naturalist would 

 feel justified in including* the deer antlers in his 

 list of " secondary sexual characters " ; but a great 

 deal is known besides which definitely relates them 

 to sex. Thus if either by accident or purposive 

 mutilation a stag is desexed, very remarkable con- 

 sequences follow to his antler development. 

 Should the operation be carried out when he is 

 without antlers he will never renew them. Should 

 it be carried out when he is adorned with antlers he 

 will never cast them. This means that the whole 

 set of physiological processes which in normal 

 circumstances produce the annual growth and 

 shedding of the antlers is a sex process, and 

 that it is permanently arrested at the moment 

 when sex is destroyed. The association is even 

 more marked if the act is performed at any of 

 the intermediate periods. When the antlers of 

 a deer are growing they are soft and tender, 

 richly supplied with blood-vessels, and covered 

 with a velvety skin which is cast when the horns 

 reach their full size. Should the stag by accident 

 or design be desexed when its antlers are " in the 



