REINDEER. 253 



Distinguished from all the other members of the Family by 

 the normal presence of antlers in both sexes. The antlers 

 are very large, and have a rounded beam, with both "brow"- and 

 'bez "-tines, both of which are either branched or palmated, 

 while frequently one of the former is rudimentary, and the 

 other greatly developed. At about the middle of its length the 

 beam is suddenly bent forwards at an angle, a larger or 

 smaller back-tine being frequently given off at this point, the 

 main branch terminating in several snags. The main hoofs of 

 each foot are very widely separated, to afford support by their 

 divergence in walking on deep snow; and for the same object 

 the lateral hoofs are likewise large. 



THE REINDEER. RANGIFER TARANDUS. 



Cervus tarandus^ Linn., Syst. Nat. ed. 12, vol. i. p. 93 



(1766). 

 Rangifer tarandus, H. Smith, in Griffith's Animal Kingdom, 



vol. v. p. 304 (1827). 



The claim of the Reindeer to be enrolled in the British 

 Fauna being the same as that of the Wolf and Brown Bear, we 

 shall not describe the animal, nor enter into a description of 

 its habits and geographical distribution, merely mentioning 

 that at the present day it has a circum-polar range, and in the 

 Eastern Hemisphere extends about as far south as latitude 52. 



That the Reindeer was an inhabitant of the British Islands 

 during the Pleistocene and Prehistoric periods, is abundantly 

 testified by the occurrence of its fossilised remains in the 

 brick-earths, fens, turbaries, peat-bogs, and caverns of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland ; some of the antlers bearing distinct 

 marks of stone or other implements. The evidence of their 

 occurrence within our limits during the historical period is, 

 however, much less satisfactory, and rests solely upon a passage 

 in Torfaeus's " History of Orkney," written at the close of the 



