122 DEER. 



We next proceed to the Ruminants with horns. 

 at the commencement of which, the large Deer, or 

 the Elks and Stags, have been generally placed ; but 

 their situation next to the diminutive Musks will ap- 

 pear extraordinary, and not following that gradation 

 of form which we have almost invariably perceived. 

 The true connection appears to be by means of the 

 Guevi of Fred. Cuvier, and one or two of the small 

 antelopes, which have in reality been confused and 

 described as Musks, and which have the low crouch- 

 ing form, and larger looking body, and almost re- 

 semble the Peccaries. 



The horns in the true Deer have a form and 

 generation accompanied with many remarkable pecu- 

 liarities. In form, they are flat or palmated, and of 

 great size and weight, or they are nearly round, and 

 branch into a number of projections, termed antlers. 

 The substance is very compact, hard, and solid, and 

 without any central support or core, as in those ru- 

 minating animals with which we are most familiar. 

 In a great many, they are annually cast, and annually 

 reproduced with great rapidity, and in all these the 

 production of the horn is intimately connected with 

 the process of generation. The size of the horn also 

 'increases with the age of the animal, and divaricates 

 Jnto a greater number of antlers. The deciduous 

 horns, as far as can be yet ascertained, take place 

 among all the Deer of the temperate countries ; but 



