584 



Genus Cervus. 

 Subgenus Eangifer. 



3512. The skeleton of a male Rein-deer (Cervus tarandus). 



The vertebral formula is : 7 cervical, 14 dorsal, 5 lumbar, 4 sacral, and 1 1 caudal. The 

 pleurapophyses of the third, fourth and fifth cervicals are developed forwards as well as back- 

 wards ; those of the sixth are also of great breadth, and are more produced downwards. The 

 metapophysis is distinctly developed upon the second and succeeding dorsal vertebrae, and 

 attains the outside of the zygapophysis in the eleventh. All the dorsal ribs are biarticulate, 

 retaining both head and tubercle. Eight pairs of ribs directly join the sternum, which con- 

 sists of seven bones. The shaft of the ulna is anchylosed to the radius, but the extremities 

 remain distinct from that bone. The medullary artery enters the fore and upper part of the 

 shaft of the femur, and the canal inclines downwards and backwards. The distal epiphysis is 

 the only part of the fibula retained in the present skeleton. Styliform rudiments of the meta- 

 carpals of the spurious digits (second and fifth in the pentadactyle foot) are present in the fore 

 feet, but the phalanges only are preserved of the corresponding digits in the hind feet. 



From Norway. 



Presented by Sir Tliomas Marion Wilson, Bart. 



3513. The skeleton of a female Rein-deer (Cervus tarandus}. 



The vertebral formula agrees with that of the male, except that there are 5 sacral ver- 

 tebrae. The Rein-deer is one of the few species of Cervidce in which the female developes 

 antlers : they are always smaller than in the male, and, in the present skeleton, show the long 

 and slender brow-snag, which is bifurcate on the right side, and two short branches from 

 the beam. 



From Norway. 



Presented by Sir Thomas Marion Wilson, Bart. 



3514. The skeleton of a female Rein-deer (Cervus tarandus). 



The vertebral formula is : 7 cervical, 1 4 dorsal, 5 lumbar, and 5 sacral : of the caudal 

 vertebrae only 8 are preserved. The six anterior cervicals have hypapophyses in the form 

 of a tubercle or a ridge. Nine pairs of ribs directly join the sternum, which consists of seven 

 bones. The ulna is continued, as in the foregoing skeletons, from the olecranon to the car- 

 pus, where it forms the external styloid process, and has become confluent there and at the 

 middle of the shaft with the radius. The metacarpals of the spurious hoofs are limited to 

 their distal portions, which do not extend so far up as the middle of the confluent meta- 

 carpals of the two large and fully-developed digits. The groove behind the coalesced meta- 

 carpals is wide and unusually deep ; it is scarcely indicated on their fore part. In the co- 

 alesced metatarsals the groove is well-marked, both before and behind, where it is also of great 

 depth and width. The medullary artery enters the femur at the fore part of the beginning 

 of the shaft. There is a rudiment of the proximal end of the fibula in the form of a styli- 



