216 EELIQULE AQUITANICLE. 



in my possession, taken from a Deer shot by myself two years ago, measure 

 as follows : 



inches. 



Length of antler, folio-wing curve 47 



Width between antlers, from tip to tip 41 



Length of brow-antlers 1415 



The total number of points, including the small ones on the brow-antlers, is 

 thirty-seven ; but the head is a remarkable one, and by far the finest I have ever 

 shot. I have described the circumstances under which this head was obtained in 

 an article which appeared in ' Land and Water ' of February the 4th, 1871. 



In the great majority of Reindeer horns from Northern Europe only one broAv- 

 antler is fully developed the other appearing in a rudimentary form, as a knob, 

 or in some cases as a spike, 3 or 4 inches in length. 



I have noticed that this is also the case with the North-American " Caribou," 

 though I have seen heads of this animal from Newfoundland in which both frontal 

 antlers are perfectly developed *. 



The European Reindeer seems to be more exclusively a mountain-animal than 

 its American congener, which appears to inhabit densely wooded districts, as well 

 as extensive " pine-barrens " and open plains. 



The variety of Reindeer found in Spitzbergen t is considerably less in size than 

 the Norwegian animal. I have examined several heads reported to be Greenland 

 and Spitzbergen specimens, which, though evidently taken from adult males, had 



Royal College of Surgeons of England,' vol. ii. "Mammalia Placentalia" (4to, London, 1853), as "No. 3519," 

 in which " both brow-snags are equally developed with compressed branched palms," p. 585 ; and it is here 

 figured (by permission) not only to illustrate the size and form of the full-grown antler, but to show the 

 relative position of the great palmate brow-antlers, such as have been used for the etchings of bovine and 

 other animals figured in B. Plate II. fig. 6, B. Plate XIX. & XX. figs. 2, 3, and 4. See also the figure en- 

 graved on stone, A. Plate XXX. fig. 5. 



Besides a large collection of Eeindeer horns, exemplifying remarkable variations of shape and size, a very 

 large head and antlers of a Caribou from Newfoundland is to be seen in the Hunterian Museum, and is 

 described in 'Descriptive Catalogue' above-quoted, p. 587, as "No. 3534," in which "the right brow-snag 

 is much expanded vertically, and palmate; the left one is bifurcate, the prongs being long, round, and 

 simple. The front branch of the beam and the termination of the beam are palmate." 



The reader is referred also to the Description of the series of young and old Antlers, figured in C. Plate 

 VII. & VIII. pages 169, 170. EDIT. REL. Aa.] 



* In ' Forest Life in Acadie, with Sketches of Sport in Newfoundland,' 8vo, 1869, by Capt. Hardy, R.A., a 

 plate is devoted to the difference of form between Caribou heads from Nova Scotia and from Newfoundland. 



t Some remarks on the Reindeer of Spitzbergen are to be found in Mr. James Lamont's ' Seasons with the 

 Sea-horses,' 8vo, 1861, chap. xv. 



