CHAPTER XV. 



HORNS AND ANTLERS. 



IN the chapter on " Mail- Clad Animals/' we treated of 

 what may be termed the armature of animals for passive 

 resistance ; while in the present one it is our intention 

 to consider certain forms of armature adapted either 

 for active resistance or for actual attack. Many forms 

 of this type of armature, such as the tusks and claws 

 of the Cat-tribe and other Carnivores, the pincers of 

 the Lobster, the sting of the Bee and the Scorpion, and 

 the poison-fang of the Adder, will at once present 

 themselves to the mind of the reader; but on this 

 occasion we propose to confine our attention to those 

 types of armature commonly known as horns and 

 antlers, which are now met with only among the 

 Hoofed or Ungulate Mammals; although, as we shall 

 mention in the sequel, the former were also developed 

 in past epochs among a lower group of animals. 



It will, first of all, be essential to thoroughly under- 

 stand what we mean by the terms " horn " and " antler," 

 since, although both are purely English words, there is 

 often great confusion in their application ; the term 

 horn being often applied to an antler, although the 

 converse misnomer is never met with. 



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