CLASS MAMMALS I ORDER UtfGULATA. 



69 



gathers around the base of each horn, with passages for the 

 arteries. These openings narrow, and gradually shut off the 

 blood, that it may not by a sudden stoppage rush to the 

 brain and produce apoplexy. The velvet, now deprived of 

 its nourishment, soon withers and is rubbed off, leaving the 

 white horn beneath. The Family is classified into Genera 

 by the conformation of the antlers : 



The Moose, once abundant in the northern parts of North 

 America, is now becoming extinct. Its broad, palmated 



Fig. 102. 



Alces malchis, Mooee. ^. . 



horns, weighing fifty to sixty pounds, are used in bending 

 down boughs and ploughing up the snow. For defence, it 

 relies upon rapid blows with its fore feet a stroke of which 

 will kill a wolf. Its pace is a quick trot, the feet being lifted 

 so as to pass over a fence five feet high without apparent 

 change of step. 



