CERVID& 



325 



the lateral hoofs are well developed, and the cleft between the 

 two main hoofs is very deep, so that these hoofs spread out as 

 the animal traverses the snow -clad regions in which it dwells. 

 The antlers 

 (Fig. 131) are 

 of very large 

 relative size. 

 There is a bez 

 as well as a 

 brow tine, which 

 are peculiar in 

 being either 

 branched or 

 palmated. In 

 the American 

 race (Caribou), 

 as well as 

 in some of 

 the specimens 

 found fossil in 

 the English 

 Pleistocene 

 (Fig. 131), one 

 of the brow 

 tines is gener- 

 ally aborted to 

 allow of the 

 great develop- 

 ment of the 

 other. The 



dentition of the Eeindeer is frequently remarkable for the very 

 small size of the posterior lobe of the last lower molar. Vertebrae : 

 07, D14, L5, S5, C 11. 



The Eeindeer has long been domesticated in Scandinavia, and is 

 of especial value to the Laplanders, whom it serves as a substitute 

 for the Horse, Cow, Sheep, and Goat. It is capable of drawing a 

 Aveight of 300 Ibs., and its fleetness and endurance are remarkable. 

 Harnessed to a sledge it will travel without difficulty 100 miles a 

 day over the frozen snow, on which its broad and deeply cleft hoofs 

 are admirably adapted for travelling. During the summer the 

 Lapland Reindeer feeds chiefly on the young shoots of the willow 

 and birch ; and since at this season migration to the coast seems 

 necessary to the well-being of this animal, the Laplander, with his 

 herds, sojourns for several months in the neighbourhood of the sea. 

 In winter its food consists chiefly of the so-called reindeer-moss and 

 other lichens which the animal makes use of its hoofs in seeking 



Fio. 131. Skull and antlers of the Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), 

 from an English Pleistocene deposit, br, Brow tine ; bz, bez tine. 

 (After Owen.) 



