340 THE UNGULATA. 



TRUE HORNS AND ANTLERS. 



Antlers are worn by the female cariboos and nearly 

 every male member of the deer family, and usually have 

 several branches. They are solid modifications of true 

 bone grown from the skull, that are shed every year and 

 quickly renewed. They are of all shapes and sizes, from 

 the simple spikes of some species to the immense branched 

 or palmated antlers of the stag, elk or moose. During 

 growth they are covered with a velvety tissue that is 

 furry outside, and abounding in blood cells which afford a 

 copious supply of blood to the rapidly enlarging osseous 

 tissue. When the antlers are fully developed the vascular 

 activity of the velvety ^tissue [cealses, and the velvet 

 shrivels and peels or is rubbed off by the animal. The old 

 antlers are usually shed in March, and the velvet dis- 

 appears from the fully developed new antlers just before 

 the mating season in August or September. 



In the first year a stag has only frontal protuberances; 

 in the second a simple stem or snag, called a spike ; 

 in the third year a larger stem with one branch, called 

 the brow antler, is developed. The bay antler is produced 

 the fourth year, and the royal antler is acquired in the 

 fifth year. After that the horns of the stag become more 

 or less palmate, with diverging points. The main stem 

 of a branched antler is called the beam, and the branches, 

 exclusive of the mere points on the palmated part, are 

 called tines. 



Horns, as before stated, are hollow sheaths growing 

 over bony cores, and except in the case of the prong- 

 horn are never shed. They are worn by both sexes of 

 most species of Bison, Buffaloes, Cattle, Antelopes, Sheep 

 and Goats. True Horns arise from the frontal bones of 

 the skull. 



