RUMINANT QUADRUPEDS. 509 



its head without reference to the horns, which 

 are coiled so as to be turned away from the 

 object to be struck. In the deer and the ox 

 tribes, however, the horns are formidable wea- 

 pons of offence : and it will be interesting to 

 inquire into the nature of these organs, and the 

 phenomena of their production. 



The antlers of the male stag are osseous struc- 

 tures, supported on short and solid tubercles of 

 the frontal bone : after remaining nearly a year 

 they are cast off, and soon replaced by a newly 

 formed antler, which is of larger size than the 

 one which was lost. Previously to the forma- 

 tion of this structure, those branches of the 

 artery, termed the carotid, which supply blood 

 to the frontal bone, are observed very rapidly to 

 dilate, and to throb with unusual force ; and all 

 the blood-vessels of the skin of the part where 

 the antler is to arise, soon become distended 

 with blood, an effect which is accompanied by 

 general heat and redness, like a part in a state 

 of high inflammation.* Presently the skin is 

 elevated by the growth of a tubercle from the 

 subjacent bone : this tubercle is at first a carti- 

 lage, and after it has attained a certain size, 

 becomes ossified, and grows like other osseous 

 structures, first shooting into the form of a length- 

 ened cylinder, and then dividing into branches. 



* These phenomena are connected with periodical changes in 

 the constitution relating to the reproductive functions. 



