416 Zoological Society. 



2. Tarandus ; Rangifer, H. Smith. 



The muzzle is entirely covered with hair ; the tear-hag small, 

 covered with a pencil of hairs ; the fur brittle, in summer short, in 

 winter longer, whiter, of the throat longer ; the hoofs are broad, de- 

 pressed, and bent in at the tip ; the external metatarsal gland above 

 the middle of the leg ; horns in both sexes elongate, subcyhndric, 

 with the basal branches and tip dilated and palrnated ; of the females 

 smaller ; skull with rather large nose-cavity, about half as long as the 

 distance to the first grinder ; the intermaxillary moderate, nearly 

 reaching to the nasal ; a small, very shallow, suborbital pit. 



They live in the Arctic Regions in both hemispheres, migrating in 

 flocks, and eating lichens. 



I. Tarandus rangifer. The Caribou or Rein Deer. 



Dark brown in summer, grey in winter. Young : brown, yellow 

 varied. 



Tarandus, Plini. — Rangifer, Gesner. — Cervus Tarandus, Linn.; 

 Pallas, Zool. Ross. A. i. 106 ; Cuvier, Mamm. Lith. t. ; Bennett, 

 Gardens Z. S. 241. fig.; Richardson, Fauna Bor. Amer. 238. — C. 

 Tarandus sylvestris {Woodland Caribou), Richardson, Fauna Bor. 

 Amer. 250. — C. rangifer, Raii Syn. 88. — C. platyrhynchos, Vrolich, 

 Rendier, t. 2 (1828). — C . palmatus and C. mirabilis, Jonston, Quad. 

 t.36, 37. — Tarandus rangifer, Gray, Knows. Menag.57. — ReinDeer, 

 Pennant. — Caribou, Sagard. Theodat. Canad. 751. — Renne, Buffon, 

 H. N. xii. 79. t. 10-12. Supp. iii. t. \8* .—Rhenne, Cuvier, R. A.— 

 Caribou or Carreboeuf, French Canadians. — Oleen, Russians in Siberia. 

 Var. Smaller ; horns more slender, less palmated ; hair short, 

 smooth, close, brown, with throat and belly white in summer ; hair 

 very close, thick, waved, brittle and erect and white in winter. 



Cervus Tarandus Americanus, H. Smith, G. A. K. v. 773. — C. Ta- 

 randus v. Arctica {Barren-ground Caribou), Richardson, Fauna Bor, 

 Amer. 241 . fig. 240, horns. — Common Beer, Hearne, Journ. 195. 200. 

 Inhabits Arctic parts of Europe and America. 

 Varies exceedingly in size. In the British Museum there are spe- 

 cimens varying from 20 to 28 inches high at the withers, and pro- 

 portionally as large in the horns and all the other parts. The variety 

 is confined to the barren grounds. 



Dr. Richardson observes, "There are two well-marked and perma- 

 nent varieties of Caribou that inhabit the fur countries ; one of them 

 {Woodland Caribou) confined to the woody and more southern di- 

 stricts, and the other {Barren-ground Caribou) retiring to the woods 

 only in the winter, but passing the summer on the coasts of the Arctic 

 seas, or on the barren grounds so often mentioned in this work." — 

 Fauna Bor. Amer. 299. 



The large Siberian variety are ridden on by the Tungusians. They 

 also use them for draught, as the Laplanders do the smaller variety. 

 They have a large variety in Newfoundland, nearly as large as a 

 heifer, having very large and heavy horns. There are some horns of 

 this variety in the British Museum . M . Middendorf informed me that 

 the horns of the large Siberian variety were as large as, and greatly re- 



