360 THE EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 



of knobs are to be seen upon the forehead of the adult male animal. 

 These are covered with a nearly smooth dark skin ; and a scar can 

 be detected in the middle of each, which is that left by the antler 

 of the year before, where it fell off. As the weather becomes more 

 propitious, these knobs commence to grow, feel warm to the touch, 

 and are evidently filled with actively circulating blood supplied 

 by special vessels which are developed at the time. They do not 

 increase regularly in all directions, for if they did the antler would 

 be a sphere, but they sprout out, as it may be termed, around the 

 above-mentioned scar ; in most cases there being one branch 

 which takes a direction forward, whilst a second larger one makes 

 its way backward. These become, in the fully-formed antler, 

 the brow antler and the main beam ; and it is by other branches 

 growing upon the beam, according to definite laws, different in 

 different species, that the elaborate complications of the fully- 

 developed structure are produced. As long as the antler, which 

 is composed of genuine bone of very dense texture, is increasing 

 in size, it will be found to be covered with the same warm black 

 skin as is the knob from which it sprang ; and as this skin is covered 

 with short, fine, close-set hair, it has received the name of ' velvet.' 

 It is this ' velvet ' which secretes the bony texture of the antler 

 from its inner surface, just in the same way that the outer covering 

 (the periosteum) of any long bone of the body is mainly concerned 

 in the formation of the bone itself. As, also, in the same way, 

 if we seriously graze our shins, and scrape off this covering, the 

 bone exposed is very apt to die, so, in the Deer any mishap to 

 the ' velvet ' injures the growth of the antler in the part affected. 

 The animals, therefore, during the time they are ' in velvet ' are 

 more than usually careful to protect their cranial appendages, and 

 are inoffensive even to strangers. When their antler-growth has 

 ceased, their natures change. The ' velvet ' has performed its func- 

 tion and dries into a parchment-like membrane, to get rid of which 

 the Deer adopt a very simple method. They rub their antlers 

 against any neighbouring trees, and force them into the soft earth, 

 until there is none left, and the bare bone, with scarcely any trace 

 of hollow in the middle of it, is completely exposed. Now, in the 

 glory of their full equipment, they go in search of others of their 

 kind, having previously maintained a comparative solitude. They 

 try their strength by butting at imaginary enemies, and choose 



