CLASS I. MAMMALIA: ORDER 9. RUMINANTIA. 



557 



TUE REINDEER. 



The species of cervidae are not very numerous, but distributed in all parts of the world. By 

 some zoologists they are considered as forming only a single genus, while others divide them into 

 several generic groups, characterized principally by differences in"the conformation of the antlers. 



Genus REINDEER : Tarandus. — Of this there is but one species, the Rhendeer or Rein- 

 deer, T. rangifer, the only one of the deer family which has been fully and permanently domesti- 

 cated, though there are several marked varieties. They are all confined to the high northern 

 regions of Europe, Asia, and America. 



The most noted variety is that of the eastern continent, to which the domesticated breeds of 

 Lapland belong. The hair of the wild ones in winter is long, thick, and gray-brown ; neck, 

 rump, belly, ring round the hoof, and end of nose, white. In summer it is short, dark sooty- 

 hrown, with the parts which are white in winter rather pale gray-brown. The tame animal is 

 about four and a half feet long and three feet high. On casting its coat it is at first brownish- 

 yellow, but as the dog-days approach it becomes whiter, till it is at last almost entirely white. 

 Round the eye the color is always black. The longest hair is under the neck ; the mouth, tail, 

 and parts near the latter are white, and the feet, at the insertion of the hoof, are surrounded with 

 a white ring. The hair of the body is so thick that the skin cannot be seen when it is put aside, 

 for it stands erect, as in other animals of the same genus, but is much thicker. When the hair 

 is cast it does not come away with the root, but breaks at the base. The fawns are generally 

 lirown on the upper part and reddish beneath. This is the common appearance of the domestic 

 reindeer, but it must be understood that it is subject to great variety of color. 



Though there is some diversity in the form of the horns, it may be said generally, as to all 

 the varieties, that they are cylindrical, with a short branch behind, compressed at the top and 

 palmated with many segments, beginning to curve back in the middle. A single branch some- 

 times, but seldom two, springs from each horn in front, very near the base, frequently equaling 

 the length of the head, compressed at the top and branched. The distance between the tips 

 equals the length. The horns of the female are like those of the male, but smaller, more slender, 

 and not so much branched. She has four true mamma?, and two false ones. The horns grow in 

 « the usual manner, and during the early part of their growth are extremely sensible, and suffer 

 from the clouds of gnats — Culex pipiens — that form one of the persecutions of both deer and 

 owner. About autumn they have become hard, and the velvet which covers them is rubbed off. 

 Toward the end of November the male loses his horns, but the female retains hers till she brings 

 ■ forth ; if barren, she drops them in the beginning of November. 



