628 



ANATOMY OF VERTEBRATES. 



the antlers coincides with that of the hair, and, with the renewal 

 of the same, is annual. 



As a rule the antlers of deer are branched : their base expands 

 into a series of dense osseous tubercles (vol. ii. fig. 327, b) called 

 the ' burr ; ' this ridge defends the edge of the frontal skin and 

 periosteum, which terminates abruptly beneath it, usually on a 

 persistent process or \ pedicel : ' the vessels co-extended with the 

 * velvet ' during the growth of the antler, check the continuous 

 development of the basal ridge, and leave it notched and per- 

 forated. The s burr ' is not the mechanical cause of the oblitera- 

 tion of the vessels. To suppose that the growth of the antler is 

 stopped by sudden suppression of its supply of blood — by a sort of 

 bony ligature of the arteries — exemplifies a shallow physiology : ■ 

 the ebb of blood, like the flow or 'determination' to the periodically 

 growing part, whether ' horn ' or ' testicle,' is due to deeper con- 

 stitutional conditions. As the vessels of the antler gradually 

 diminish in size, the ' burr ' encroaches upon their channels ; but 

 of these sufficient remains in the form of perforations and notches 

 to allow blood enough to pass to the ' velvet,' if its entire depri- 

 vation of nourishment were not a pre-ordained condition, inde- 

 pendent of the ' burr.' 



The stem or body of the antler is termed the ' beam ' ; its 

 branches are the * tynes,' its branchlets the ( snags ' : the first or 

 lowest branch is the ' brow-tyne,' as projecting from the fore- 

 part of the base, forward, fig. 494, m ; the second is the ' beze ' 

 or ' bez-tyne/ ib. n ; the third is the ' royal,' ib. o ; the upper 

 ones, which are more or less clustered on an expansion or ' crown ' 



of the beam, are the ' sur- 

 royals,' ib. p. When a 

 branch is sent off from 

 the hind part of the beam, 

 as in Megaceros? it is a 

 * back-tyne : ' this is long 

 and subpalmate in the 

 Chinese C. davidianus. 3 



In the Red-deer ( Cer- 



vus elaphus), as in all 



other species, the first 



pair of antlers which the 



young male developes in the spring of the year after his birth, 



consist of beam only, fig. 494, a ; they are called ' dags,' and 



the animal carrying them is a ' brocket : ' the next year's pair 



1 xcvi'. p. 518. 2 xvn'. p. 456. 3 ccxl", p. 27, pi. 4. 



494 



Autler-series, Red Deer, cxxxix. 



