324 Dr. J. E. Gray on the Pronghorn Buck, 



note under 24th August 1841, observes, *Dr. Marsh assures me 

 that the horns of this animal are shed annually, like those of 

 the deer/ " 



Dr. Colbert A. Canfield, who resides in California, sent an 

 account of the habits of the Prongbuck, in which he states as a 

 fact that " the horns drop off annually," to Dr. Spencer Baird, 

 of the Smithsonian Institution ; but his paper (which is dated 

 Sept. 10, 1858) was not published until after Mr. Bartlett had 

 recorded his observation of the same fact, observed on the ani- 

 mal in the Zoological Society's Gardens. 



Dr. Colbert Canfield's paper is printed in the ' Proceedings 

 of the Zoological Society,' 1866, p. 105, and contains many 

 very interesting particulars on the habits and manners of the 

 animal. 



Dr. Canfield truly observes that the horns of sheep and goats 

 always have rings showing the growth of the horns, and that 

 such rings are not to be observed on the horns of the Prong- 

 buck. 



When Dr. Canfield says that " the horns drop off annually," 

 and observes to Dr. Spencer Baird, "To convince you of 

 this singular fact is my principal object in making you this 

 communication," he only intended to say that the horny sheath 

 of the horns fell. The American hunters and Dr. Marsh must 

 have intended the same, though Dr. Bachman and M. Audubon 

 were deceived by the vagueness of the hunters' words ; and even 

 Dr. Marsh, when he added " like the deer," could only have in- 

 tended to say that the case of the horns falls annually, and not 

 that the entire horn or antler falls, as is the case with the deer. 



Mr. Bartlett, in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society ' 

 for 1865, p. 718, gave a very interesting and detailed account 

 of the manner in which the horny case of the horn separates 

 from the core, and how the new horny case is formed between 

 the inner surface of the old case and the core. 



Mr. Bartlett in this paper endeavours "to prove that the Prong- 

 buck's affinities are closer to the genus Cervus," to which he 

 thinks " it is more nearly allied than to the Antelopes." Indeed 

 he thinks he is " able to show that the horns of the Prongbuck 

 are a modification of the horns of Cervus." 



In this view I think that Mr. Bartlett is entirely mistaken, 

 and that this theory obscures the otherwise very interesting de- 

 tails which he gives of the peculiarities of this animal, 



2. In the hollow-horned Ruminants the bony processes of the 

 frontal bone, which form the true horns of this group of animals, 

 are permanent, and are covered, in the oxen, sheep, goat, and 

 antelopes, with a horny case, which is increased in size as the 

 core enlarges by the addition of new laminae of horny matter to 



