272 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



the male as to make it safe, perhaps, to refer those instances 

 of its presence in the female to similar causes, as the inheri- 

 tance of other sexual characters by members of the opposite 

 sex. This pendulous flap of the skin of the throat seems to 

 serve simply a purpose, which, from the paucity of our vocab- 

 ulary, we must term ornament, though by no means implying 

 by this that it is designed merely to gratify the taste of wearer 

 or viewer. 



The nearest existing relative of the moose is the elk of 

 Northern Europe. Unfortunately, by one of those frequent 

 transpositions in popular nomenclature, the name elk has in 

 this country been applied to the only other large deer-like ani- 

 mal, though the latter is hardly specifically distinct from the 

 European stag. Although subject to a wide range of variation 

 the species under consideration present in a comprehensive 

 view appreciable distinctions. While, therefore, there can be 

 no doubt of their common origin and close relationship, the 

 decision of the question of specific identity must depend very 

 largely upon theoretical considerations or individual judgment. 

 The American moose is larger and of a darker color than the 

 European species, and certain differences in the form and ex- 

 pansion of the antlers are obvious, while the more recondite 

 (and theoretically more valuable) distinctions seem never to 

 have been carefully studied. The configuration of the cra- 

 nium varies too much in all large mammal's and especially in 

 those in which one sex bears horns, and hence more or less of 

 cross inheritance of sexual characters is to be expected, to 

 afford instructive distinctions unless very careful elimination 

 of all variants is made upon the basis of very large and repre- 

 sentative collections. 



The original habitat of the moose extended entirely across 

 the continent between the fortieth and seventieth parallels, 

 approximately in appropriate localities. The treeless regions 

 were, of course, always avoided by an animal whose chief sus- 

 tenance is afforded by leaves and bark. A few specimens of 

 this noble animal still may remain in the inaccessible regions 

 of Northern Minnesota, but the time is not far distant when it 

 will have deserted the territory of the United States forever . 

 The moose is at home in dense thickets, such as are usually 

 found about the swamps and shallow lakes at the head waters 

 of northern streams. The long legs and deeply cleft hoofs 

 adapt the animal to such a habitat, while the short neck and 

 prehensile snout sufficiently indicate the impossibility of its 



