276 BULLETIN NO. VII. 



and in the male is furnished with a heavy mane. The fur is of 

 two sorts, the inner being dense and soft while the longer hairs 

 are crinkled and pliant. The hide makes a useful leather. 

 The color is lighter on the back than on the sides. The antlers 

 are worn by both males and females, though those of the 

 female are smaller and less palmated. The antlers are more 

 spreading than those of the moose, which they most resemble. 

 Their form is very irregular, but the slender branches are more 

 or less palmated at the end. The feet are very large and the 

 hoofs are flattened, and in form similar to those of the ox ; the 

 dew claws or accessory hoofs are unusually large and are not 

 entirely unf unctional . There is said to be some muscular con- 

 trol of these remnants of the second and fifth digits, which, 

 with their flattened hoofs spread laterally, add considerably to 

 the support of the animal as its makes its way across the bogs, 

 which are its special habitat. The entire lower leg is applied 

 to the ground in such cases, so that the caribou's foot forms a 

 sort of snow shoe. The hoofs are black. Tarsal gland large, 

 metatarsal gland wanting, interdigital gland found only in 

 hind feet. 



The antlers of the male are from two to three feet long, the 

 shaft being subcylindrical, with comparatively restricted 

 palms. The brow tines are asymmetrical, one or both descend- 

 ing to about the level of the eyes and one usually expanded in 

 a vertical plane and digitate. The bez-tine may also descend. 

 At the end of the main shaft the palmate part bears a number 

 of posterior tines. There is considerable variation, which 

 would be useless to describe. The antlers of the female are 

 small and little palmate, but bear simply flattened snags. The 

 Barren-ground caribou which inhabits the rocky morasses of 

 arctic America and is most nearly akin to this species has similar 

 antlers, though rather more palmate and proportionally much 

 larger. Indeed, the antlers of the woodland caribou are not 

 half the size of its cousin's, though the latter is about half its 

 size. 



The antlers of the European reindeer with which our spe- 

 cies is sometimes identified, differ chiefly in that those of the 

 European form are less palmated. To these differences in the 

 antlers we must add the greater size of the American species, 

 as well as its lighter color. The caribou lives chiefly upon 

 lichens and mosses and the browse of small trees and shrubs. 

 The reindeer moss, Cladonia rangiferina, species of Usnea, 

 Sticta and Cornicularia are said to constitute the principal sup- 



