CHAPTEE III. 



THE ALCINE DEER OF THE OLD AND THE NEW WORLDS. 



THE MOOSE. 



(Alee, Hamilton Smith ; Alee Americanus, Jardine.) 



Muzzle very broad, produced, covered with hair, except a small, moist, 

 naked spot in front of the nostrils. Neck short and thick ; hair thick 

 and brittle ; throat rather maned in both sexes ; hind legs have the 

 tuft of hair rather above the middle of the metatarsus ; the males 

 have palmate horns. The nose cavity in the skull is very large, 

 reaching behind to a line over the front of the grinders ; the inter- 

 maxillaries are very long, but do not reach to the nasal. The nasals 

 are very short. 



In the foregoing diagnosis, taken from "Gray sKnowsley 

 Menagerie," are summed up the principal characteristics 

 of the elk in the Old and New Worlds. In colour alone 

 the American moose presents an unimportant difference 

 to the Swedish elk, being much darker ; its coat at the 

 close of summer quite black, when the males are in their 

 prime. The European animal varies according Jo season 

 from brown to dark mouse-grey. In old bulls of the 

 American variety the coat is inclined to assume a grizzly 

 hue. The extremities only of the hairs are black ; to- 

 wards the centre they become of a light ashy-grey, 

 and finally, towards the roots, dull white — the diffe- 

 rence of colour in the hair of the two varieties thus 



