DEER. 



339 



Antlers. 



by the name of antlers. Unfortunately, so far as simplicity of classification is con- 

 cerned, these appendages are not present in all the members of the family, and the 

 zoologist has, therefore, to rely partly on other characters in defining the group. 

 Still, however, as these antlers are the most characteristic features of the deer-tribe 

 as a whole, their importance cannot be overrated, and we accordingly take them 

 first into consideration. 



With regard to the meaning of the term antler, it appears that 

 the word is derived from the old French antoiller, a corruption of 

 the late Latin antoculorum (before the eyes), which was originally applied to that 

 branch of the antler which descends over the forehead, and is now designated the 

 brow-tine. At a subsequent period the word antler seems to have been employed 

 indifferently for all the branches of these appendages, while still later it was used 

 to designate the entire appendages themselves. It is in the latter sense that it is 

 now employed, the various branches of the antlers being termed tines. 



In addition to being generally more or less branched, the most characteristic 

 feature of an antler when fully developed is that its outer surface is rugged and 

 devoid of any covering of skin or horn. In fact, for all practical purposes, an 

 antler may be regarded as a mass of dead bone borne for a certain period by a 

 living animal. Except occasionally, as an individual peculiarity, antlers are shed 

 once every year, and, save in 

 the reindeer, are present only 

 in the male sex. They arise 

 from a pair of longer or 

 shorter bony pedicles situated 

 on the skull above and behind 

 the eyes, and forming part of 

 the skull itself. 



When the antlers of a 

 stag have been recently shed 

 the above - mentioned bony 

 pedicles are completely 

 covered with skin, and merely 

 form small prominences upon 

 the upper part of the fore- 

 head. In a short time, how- 

 ever, there appear on the 

 summits of these pedicles 

 small velvety knobs, which 

 are highly sensitive and 

 tender, and are supplied by 

 an unusual number of blood- 

 vessels. These knobs are formed by a deposition of bony matter, and increase very 

 rapidly in size. In young deer and a few of the smaller forms their growth is 

 limited to the formation of a simple spike, or a spike with one fork, but in the 

 adults of the more typical kinds of deer they branch into a smaller or larger 

 number of tines, until they finally assume the form of the complete antler. The 



HEAD OF RED DEER WITH NEW ANTLERS IN THE "VELVET." 



