THE ALCINE DEER OF THE OLD AND NEW WORLDS. 63 



form of our Swedish elk so precisely agree with those of 

 the North American moose in every respect, that unless 

 some minute osteological difference can be found to exist 

 (as in the case of the beavers of the two countries), I 

 think we may fairly consider them as one and the same 

 animal/'* The only difference of this nature that I ever 

 heard of as supposed to exist, consisted in a greater 

 breadth being accredited to the skull, at the most pro- 

 tuberant part of the maxillaries, in the case of the Euro- 

 pean elk. This I find is set aside in the comparative 

 diagnosis at the Museum of the Eoyal College of Sur- 



* The following corroborative statement lias appeared in "Land and 

 Water," from the pen of a correspondent whose initials are appended : — 

 " I beg to state my opinion that the elk of North America and of Northern 

 Europe are identical. Having lived four years in New Brunswick and 

 Nova Scotia, and having had the opportunity since I have been living in 

 Prussia of seeing the interesting paintings of the elk of East Prussia, 

 executed by Count Oscar Krochow, I have very little doubt on the subject; 

 indeed, the differences are so trifling and so manifestly the result of climatic 

 influences, that as a sportsman I have no doubts whatever. The elk (Elend 

 thier, Elenn thier, Elech or Elk in German) is still found in the forest 

 lying between the Russian frontier and the Curische Huff, in the govern- 

 mental district of Gumbinnen, where it is strictly preserved, and where 

 its numbers have considerably increased in late years. I think that only 

 six stags are allowed to be shot yearly in this district, and permission is 

 only to be obtained on very particular recommendation to high authorities 

 in Berlin. The best German sporting authorities and sporting naturalists 

 consider the moose deer of North America and the elk of Northern Europe 

 to be identical. The elk was not extinct in Saxony till after the year 1746, 

 and is still found in Prussia, Livonia, Finland, Courland (where it is called 

 Halang), in the Ural, and in Siberia. Perhaps the greatest numbers are 

 found in the Tagilsk forests in the Ural, where the elk grows to an 

 enormous size. The size and weight, shape of the antlers, its having 

 topmost height at the shoulder, the shape and mode of carrying the head, 

 prolongation of the snout to what is called (in North America) 'themooflie,' 

 the awkward trotting gait, and also its power of endurance and the dis- 

 tances which it travels when alarmed, all concur in establisliing the identity 

 of the North American and Northern European elks. The elk of Northern 

 Europe goes with young forty weeks ; the rutting season commences in 

 Lithuania (East Prussia) about the end of August, and lasts through 

 September. As well as can be established by recent observation, the 

 duration of life is from sixteen to eighteen years." — B. W. (Berlin). 



