Loological Society. | 225 
very variable. ‘‘'I'he common cow is generally supposed to acquire 
one ring on the horn every year after the third, but this is far from 
being a general law. Between the 20th of July and the 81st of 
October, 1833, the horns of a young Indian Antelope (4. Cervicapra), 
which I had marked for the purpose in the gardens of the Society, 
acquired an addition of no fewer than three rings, and an increase 
of length of a full inch and a half; and I have observed a similar 
phenomenon in other species.” 
The permanent or deciduous character of the horns is said to de- 
pend upon their hollowness or solidity; and the author, moreover, 
states that it is not correct to suppose that hollow horns are, strictly 
speaking, permanent; the hollow horn is shed, as well as the solid, 
but in a different sense. ‘‘ Buffon has been much ridiculed for as- 
serting this fact with regard to the domestic ox, but Buffon was a 
much better observer than his critics; and: [ have myself verified his 
observations on many other Ruminants. If the horns of any young 
animal be examined, it will be found that they are of a coarse, sca- 
brous, spongy texture, very thick and blunt in proportion to their 
length, and hollow nearly to the point: let the same individual be 
examined when it arrives at maturity ; the horns, especially towards 
‘the extremity, have a close, compact, and polished surface ; they are 
much attenuated, end in a very fine point, and have the terminal 
third perfectly solid. These changes do not arise from the mere 
rubbing and polishing of the horn, as is commonly supposed. That 
hypothesis does not account for the difference of texture and solidity 
which distinguish the old and young horns; but the truth is that, as 
in the case of the second dentition, the permanent organ is developed 
under, or rather within the other, and by its growth gradually car- 
ries it upwards, and supports it like a sheath or scabbard. The 
young horn thus severed from the vessels which formerly supplied 
it with nutriment, dries up, bursts from the expansion of the perma- 
nent horn within it, and exfoliates in large irregular stripes, leaving 
the latter with the finely polished surface, and solid, sharp, attenu- 
ated points which distinguish them. As far as my observations en- 
able me to judge, this exfoliation takes place only once during the 
life of the animal, and that at the period of adolescence, immediately 
before the appearance of the first annulus. ‘Though it does not take 
place all at once, nor absolutely deprive the animal of horns for a 
certain period, it is nevertheless a true and actual shedding of these 
organs, and accounts satisfactorily for many phenomena which I 
found inexplicable before making these observations. The horns of 
the Oryxes, for instance, which in the adult state are remarkable for 
their straightness and extreme sharpness, have the points very blunt, 
‘and bent backwards, almost at a right angle, in the young animal; 
and the Koba, or Sing-Sing, whose permanent horns are partially 
lyrated, has the young organs nearly straight, as may be observed in 
the specimen now in the Society’s museum. It is only necessary 
to observe further, that the young horn, which afterwards exfoliates, 
appears to be entirely the growth of the first year, though it gene- 
rally remains a much longer time before being cast. A young Leu- 
Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. Nov. 1840. Q 
