504 RUMINANTS. 



covered with a soft velvety skin ; but they have at 

 their base a prominent ring of bony protuberances, 

 which, as they grow, compress and obliterate the 

 nutritive blood-vessels of this skin, which then dries, 

 withers, and is stripped off. The horns, thus laid 

 bare, become for a season formidable weapons; but 

 in time they separate from the skull and fall off. 

 Soon, however, new ones begin to make their appear- 

 ance, which ultimately become larger than their pre- 

 decessors, but like them, are destined to be shed at 

 the end of the year, under the influence of the 

 same causes. Weapons of this description, purely 

 bony, and liable to be changed periodically, are 

 called deciduous horns, or antlers. 



A. third kind of horns met with in the Goat, 

 Sheep, &c., consists of a bony core covered with a 

 case of elastic substance (horn). Horns of this 

 description never fall off, but continue to grow during 

 the whole life of the animal these are called hollow 

 horns. 



