108 DR. C. A. CANFIELD ON THE PRONGBUCK. [Feb. 27, 



protuberances began to be tipped with a point of horn once more, 

 that grew from the base, and increased in size for a year. They 

 dropped off in January, I think, being about 5 inches long, slightly 

 curved inwards at the tips, cylindrical, and the substance of the horn 

 hard and well developed. The knobs that remained were about 

 1 1 inch long, slightly hairy, as before, and nearly concealed in the 

 long hair that grows around the base of the horns at that time of 

 the year. Sharp points immediately began to form as before ; the 

 knobs changed from a rounded form to an oval outline, longer from 

 before backward ; and, directly, another protuberance began to be 

 developed at the base of each horn, in front ; and each of these at 

 length became tipped also with horn. These were the anterior 

 prongs, not as yet connected with main horn, but which very soon 

 became consolidated. This was the condition of the animal's horns 

 in October 1857, or when he was two years and a half old. They 

 were about 9 inches long, measuring in a straight line from the 

 frontal bone to the extreme curve of the points. At that time he 

 received a kick from a mule, that broke one of his fore legs. I 

 splinted and bandaged the leg, and he ran about with it so for more 

 than three months, when he was killed, I suppose, by a pack of 

 wolves. It was a great pity that he did not live two or three years 

 longer, so as to have made further observations on the growth of his 

 horns. But I think that the phenomena exhibited by his horns 

 while he did live, and those exhibited by other Antelopes, have fur- 

 nished me with data sufficient to establish the proposition that I 

 now make, viz. that their horns drop off annually ! When I began 

 to be acquainted with the Prong-horned Antelope, I believed (as 

 you and all the scientific world do) that they have permanent horns 

 like goats and sheep ; but after knowing them a year or two I be- 

 came convinced that they shed their horns every year ! And to 

 convince you of this singular fact is my principal object in making 

 you this communication. As the buck grows older his horns change 

 their form, until, the second time of shedding them, they are cylin- 

 drical and slightly curved inward at the tips. After the prong ap- 

 pears, the points of the horns become more and more incurved, until 

 in the oldest bucks they are remarkably hooked, some of them almost 

 as much so as a fish-hook, and very sharp and hard. In the months 

 of December and January I have never killed a buck with large 

 horns ; and at that time of the year all the bucks appear to be young 

 ones, because their horns are so small ; whereas in the spring and 

 summer months almost all the bucks appear to be old ones, for their 

 horns are large and noticeable. Another proof of my proposition is 

 the following : — In the summer months I have noticed that the line 

 of demarcation is very apparent and abrupt between the horn and 

 the skin from which it grows, but that in the winter there is no 

 demarcation, the horn being very soft at its base, passing insensibly 

 into cuticular tissue, and the soft horny substance being covered 

 thinly with hair. The horns of Antelope3 are very loosely set on 

 the medullary base, and are susceptible of considerable movement 

 in all directions. So ' loose,' apparently, have I seen them, that it 



