7H MANUAL OF ZOOLOGY. 



season. They increase in size and in the number of branches 

 every time they are reproduced, until in the old males they 

 may attain an enormous size. The antlers are carried upon 

 the frontal bone, and are produced by a process not at all 

 unlike that by which injuries of osseous structures are made 

 good in man. At first the antlers are covered with a sensitive 

 hairy skin or "velvet"; but as development proceeds, the 

 vessels of the skin are gradually obliterated, and the skin dies 

 and peels off; a bony ridge or "burr" being formed on the 

 antler just above its base of attachment to the frontal bone. 



Fig. 409. Side-view of the skull of the Roebuck (Capreolus caj>rced). 

 (After Giebel.) 



In all the Deer there is a sebaceous gland, called the " lach- 

 rymal sinus," or " larmier," which is placed beneath each eye, 

 and secretes a strongly-smelling waxy substance. 



When fully developed, the antlers of the Deer consist of a main stem or 

 " beam," carrying one or more branches or " tynes." In the second year 

 after birth, when the antlers are first produced, and in a few Deer through- 

 out life, the antler consists only of the "beam," and is dagger-shaped and 

 unbranched, the animal being known now as a " brocket." In the horns 

 of the next year, the antler develops a basal branch or ' ' brow-tyne. " In 

 the antlers of the next year there is produced above the brow-tyne a second 

 branch or " tres-tyne," which is directed forwards, the hinder portion of 

 the beam constituting the "royal." If the antler develops beyond this 

 point, it is by the more or less complex branching of these two divisions of 

 the beam, the "royal tyne," in particular, being very liable to become 

 divided in successive years. The following are the principal types of 

 antlers among the Deer : 



(A.) Rusine type. The brow-tyne simple, the beam simply divided (fig. 

 410, A). This form of antler occurs in the Sambur Deer (Riisa Aristotdis) 

 and in the Axis Deer of India. 



(B.) Rucervine type. The two primary divisions of the beam above the 



