202 VERTEBRATA. MAMMALIA. 



Cervus* the Deer. 



We now come to those Ruminants which exhibit 

 in most perfection the structure and habits of the 

 Order, of which the possession of horns is one in- 

 stance. In the genus before us, these are bony ex- 

 crescences, formed in the spring with great rapidity, 

 shooting out into branched antlers, as in the Stags, 

 or into broad palmated disks, and falling off in the 

 winter, to be again renewed. These are generally 

 the peculiar ornaments of the male, but in the Rein- 

 deer of the Arctic Regions (C. Tarandus) the female 

 is also furnished with them. It has been thought 

 that one end of this periodical growth, is the em- 

 ployment of the superfluous blood produced by the 

 sudden abundance of food after the interval of winter ; 

 those of the extreme northern species being much 

 more heavy and branched than in those of more 

 temperate regions, the branching being at the low- 

 est in the Deer of India. In still warmer regions, 

 the Deer almost cease to be found, their place being 

 supplied by the Antelopes, &c., with permanent 

 horns, f 



The Deer are generally elegant and slender ani- 

 mals, light and graceful in their movements, which 

 are performed with great speed and agility. Those 

 which inhabit the colder climates, are however, more 

 robust in form, and larger in size. The Elk or 



* Its Latin name 



f See Cox, in Proc. Zool., Soc. 1833, p. 87. 



