THE RAIN-DEER. 319 



obfcure intimations of the elk and rain-deer un- 



« 



der the appellations of alee, machlis, and tarandus. 

 The name alee<, therefore, cannot be properly 

 confidered as either Greek or Latin; but it ap- 

 pears to have been derived from the Celtic lan- 

 guage, in which the elk is called elch or elk. 

 The Latin name of the rain- deer is ftill more 

 uncertain. Several naturalifts have thought that it 

 was the machlis of Pliny; becaufe this author, 

 when fpeaking of the northern animals, men- 

 tions, at the fame time, the alee and the machlis ; 

 the laft of which, he remarks, is peculiar to 

 Scandinavia, and was never feen either at Rome, 

 or any part of the Roman empire. In Caefar's 

 Commentaries*, however, we find a paflage, which 



can 



were but little verfeJ in natural hiftory ; and this is one rea- 

 fon why we find fo many obfcure and ill interpreted paf- 

 fages in his writings. The fame remark is applicable to the 

 commentators and tranflators of Ariftotle. We ihall, theie- 

 fore, endeavour to reftore fome words which have been 

 changed, and to correct fome paflages cf thofe two authors 

 that have been corrupted. 



* Eft bos in Hercinia filva, cervi figura, cujus a media 

 fronte inter aures unum cornu exiftit excellius, magifque di- 

 rectum his quae nobis nota funt cornibus : Ab ejus fummo 

 ficut palmae ramique late diffunduntur. Eadem eft foeminae 

 marifque natura ; eadem forma, magnitudoque cornuum ; 

 Jul. Caefar de hello Gallico, lib. 6. Note. This paftage is deci- 

 iive. The rain- deer, in fact, has brow antlers which feem 

 to form an intermediate horn. His horns are divided into 

 feveral branches, terminated by large palms ; and the female 

 has horns as well as the male. Eut the females of the elk', 

 the (tag, the fallow-deer, and the roe-deer, have no horns. 



He e 



