MAMMALIA. 333 



comb, ret (so called from the presence of polygonal 

 spaces) ; 3. The manyplies, ps ; and, lastly, the stomach 

 or rennet, a. 



The deer are characterized by solid, branching antlers 

 or horns that are cast yearly.* They generally have sacks 

 beneath the eye, that can be opened or shut at will, con- 

 taining a waxy secretion, having a pungent odor, and are 

 called "tear-pits." The females, with the exception of 

 the reindeer, are hornless. The Virginia deer (Cariacus 

 Virginianus) is a typical American species, and one of 

 the most beautiful of the family. They attain a weight of 

 two hundred and fifty pounds, and vary in color with the 

 seasons ; being a light brown in summer and a reddish 

 gray in winter, the under part of the throat and tail being 

 a white at all times. The Wapiti (Fig. 357) is one of the 

 noblest American deer, and is closely allied to the Eng- 

 lish red deer or stag. They attain a length of nearly 

 eight feet, and a height of five feet at the shoulders. The 

 horns or antlers are shapely, with twelve points or more, 

 and are six to seven feet long, weighing at times nearly 

 eighty pounds. The tips or branches increase with years, 

 and forty-five have been seen on the antlers of an Eng- 

 lish stag. In the summer the wapiti are reddish brown, 

 and in the winter gray. They range the northern coun- 

 try east of the Missouri. The caribou is allied to the 

 European reindeer ; two species range our Northern for- 



'* Toward the end of spring there is an increased flow of blood to 

 the head, the blood-vessels being temporarily enlarged. Budding horns 

 now appear ; they are highly sensitive and delicate, covered with a 

 downy skin, called and resembling velvet, and permeated with blood- 

 vessels. They grow with marvelous rapidity, the antlers of a full-grown 

 stag being completely formed in ten weeks. When full growth hss 

 been attained, a burr or ring forms at the base of each, that presses 

 and cuts off the blood-vessels ; the velvet then shrivels and peels off, 

 assisted by rubbing, the marks of the blood-vessels being now seen as 

 grooves. In the Indian deer, and perhaps some other tropical spe- 

 cies, the casting does not occur annually. 



