APPENDIX 203 



in France from very early clays. Probably they were 

 relics left there by the Alani in their wanderings through 

 Gaul. About the same period as our MS. we find Alans 

 mentioned by Chaucer, who in the " Knight's Tale " 

 describes Lycurgus seated on his throne, around which 

 stand white AlaunU as big as bulls wearing muzzles and 

 golden collars. 



The ancient Gallo-Latin name of veltrahus^ or veltris, 

 which in the first instance denoted a large greyhound 

 used for the chase of the bear and wild boar, passed later 

 to a different kind of dog used for the same purpose. 

 These veltres, viautres, or vautres were also known under 

 the name of Alan, and resembled the Great Dane or 

 the German Boarhound (De Noir., vol. ii. p. 295-7). 



ANTLER, O. Fr. auntilor, antoiller, or andoi/Ier, de- 

 rived from a Teutonic root ; Anglo-Saxon andwlit ; 

 Frank, antlutt or antluzze ; Goth, andawleiz ; O. Ger. 

 antliz ; face. Gaston Phcebus and Roy Modus and 

 other old French authors almost invariably use teste^ or 

 head, when referring to a hart's antlers, but Enghsh 

 writers did not observe time-hallowed terms of venery 

 so rigorously, and our author frequently uses the jarring 

 and, from every point of view, incorrect term "horns" 

 when speaking of the hart's attire or head. The sub- 

 stance of deers' antlers is true bone, the proportion of 

 their constituents differing but very slightly from ordinary 

 bones. The latter, when in a healthy condition, consist 

 of about one-third of animal matter or gelatine, and two- 

 thirds of earthy matter, about six-sevenths of which is 

 phosphate of lime and one-seventh carbonate of lime, 

 with an appreciable trace of magnesia. The antlers of 

 deer consist of about thirty-nine parts of animal matter 

 and sixty-one parts of earthy matter of the same kind 

 and proportion as is found in common bone. Later on, 

 a more sportsmanlike regard for terms of venery is ob- 

 servable, and Turbervile in one of his few original pas- 

 sages impresses upon his fellow-sportsmen : " Note that 



