ORDER ARTIODACTYLA: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 477 



Taxonomically, this Reindeer is variously rated: as a subspecies 

 of Rangifer tarandus by Lonnberg (1909, p. 10) and by Lydekker 

 (1915, vol. 4, p. 243) ; as a species by Miller (1912, p. 981) and by 

 Jacobi (1931, p. 125) ; and as identical with R. t. tarandus by 

 Flerov (1933, p. 331). Its former range is quite uncertain, espe- 

 cially toward the east, but may be considered provisionally as cov- 

 ering the forested portions of northern Sweden, northern and eastern 

 Finland, and northern Russia, possibly east to the Urals. It is now 

 extinct over the greater part of this region. 



This animal is larger than the Scandinavian Reindeer, the height 

 of the male at the shoulder being about 1,200 mm. It is also dis- 

 tinguished by cranial and dental characters. The antlers are strong 

 and heavy, the beam rather flattened, the bez-tines flat and pal- 

 mated, both brow-tines palmated and converging. A set of antlers 

 from Karelia is 910 mm. in length; one from Olonetz, 940 mm. 

 (Lonnberg, 1909, pp. 4-10; Jacobi, 1931, p. 126.) No description 

 of the skin seems to be available, unless that of one from the central 

 Urals applies to the present form (Jacobi, 1931, p. 125) . 



Lonnberg (1909, pp. 3-14) furnishes the following information: 



To the east of the Scandinavian peninsula wild Reindeer are, or were to 

 be found in northern Finland and their distribution extended towards the 

 north into the peninsula of Kola and southwards along the Finnish-Russian 

 frontier through Carelia, and at least during the winter their wanderings 

 carried them even to the south of Lake Ladoga. . . . 



In the present time its habitat is very much restricted from what it used 

 to be. ... 



From this report [by Pleske, on the Kola Peninsula, 1884] it may be seen 

 that wild Reindeer have, at least formerly, been distributed over the greater 

 part of the peninsula but that their number had been greatly diminished by 

 wolves and men. How it is at present is uncertain. Wild Reindeer are still 

 to be found on the Kola Peninsula but it is unknown to the present author 

 whether they are numerous or scarce. Ramsay mentions [1892] that he observed 

 a flock of 11 wild Reindeer in the upper Kunjok-valley east of Lake Imandra, 

 and on the Umptek-tundra he saw such animals too. In the year 1870 Mr. K. 

 Hilden . . . wrote that wild Reindeer were to be found in Northern Finland 

 within an area extending 220 verst in length and with an average width of 120 

 verst. This area consisted of "the forest-clad wilderness which is situated be- 

 tween the inhabited country of the parochial districts Enontekis, Kittila, 

 Sodankyla and the eastern part of Kuolajarvi, and the Norwegian frontier 

 towards the east along Vaskonjoki over Padar Lake, along Joenjoki and Enare 

 Lake down Patsjoki to the Russian frontier." In the year 1900 Mr. Granit 

 states that in northern Finland wild Reindeer were to be found "only in 

 Enontekis (very little) and in Sodankyla and Enare parochial districts within 

 the great wildernesses which form the watershed between the affluents to the 

 Arctic Ocean and those to the Gulf of Bothnia." From this district and towards 

 the south the same author did not believe that there existed any wild Reindeer 

 nearer than at Ilomants and thence along the Russian frontier towards Ladoga. 

 Quite lately, however, Dr. Alex Luther kindly has communicated that it appears 

 certain that the wild Reindeer now are exterminated in the southern parts of 

 the present Finland even if now and then some stragglers from Russian 



