RUMINANTIA. 105 



Finally, in the genus of the Stags, the prominences covered for a time with 

 a hairy skin, similar to that on the J rest of the head, ,M / 1 

 have at their base a ring of bony tubercles, which, ^^' 

 as they enlarge, compress and obliterate the vessels 

 of that skin. It becomes dry, and is thrown off; the 

 bony prominences, being laid bare, at the expiration 

 of a certain period separate from the cranium, to which 

 they were attached; they fall, and the animal remains 

 defenceless. Others, however, are re-produced, generally larger than before, 

 and destined to undergo the same fate. These horns, purely osseous, and 

 subject to periodical changes, are styled antlers. 



CEBVUS, Linnceus. 



The Stags, consequently, are the only Ruminantia which have heads armed 

 with antlers ; the females, however, the rein-deer alone excepted, are always 

 without them. The substance of these antlers, when completely developed, 

 is that of a dense bone, without pores or sinus. 



C. alces, Lin. (The Moose.) As large as a horse, and sometimes larger; 

 stands very high ; the muzzle cartilaginous and inflated ; a sort of goitre, or 

 pendulous swelling, variously shaped, under the throat ; hair always very stiff 

 and of a more or less deep ash-colour. Their horns increase with age so as to 

 weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and to have fourteen branches to each horn. The 

 moose lives in small troops, and inhabits the marshy forests of the north of 

 both continents. Its skin is valuable for various purposes. 



C. tarandus, Lin., Buff. (The Rein-deer.) Size of a stag, but has shorter 

 and stouter legs; both sexes have antlers, divided into several branches, at 

 first slender and pointed, and terminating by age in broad denticulated palms. 

 There are various species of this genus; such as the fallow deer, common stag, 

 Virginia deer, axis, roebuck, &c. 



CAMELOPARDALIS, LinncEus. 



The Giraffe is characterised in both sexes by conical horns, as represented 

 in the cut, always covered with a hairy skin, and which are never 

 shed. On the middle of the chanfrin is a tubercle or third horn, 

 broader and much shorter, but likewise articulated by a suture. It 

 is moreover one of the most remarkable animals in existence, from 

 the length of its neck and the disproportioned height of its fore legs. 

 Only one species is known. 



C. girafa, F. Cuv. (The Giraffe.) It is confined to the deserts of Africa, 

 and has short grey hair sprinkled with fawn-coloured angular spots, and a 

 small fawn-coloured and grey mane. It is the tallest of all animals, for its 

 head is frequently elevated eighteen feet from the ground. Its disposition is 

 gentle, and it feeds on leaves. The 



RUMINANTIA WITH HOLLOW HORNS 



Are more numerous than the others, and we have been compelled to divide 

 them into genera from characters of but little importance, drawn from the 

 form of their horne and the proportions of their different parts. To these 



