THE STAG. 67 



The reproduction of the stag's horn is in itself a 

 phenomenon ; but it becomes still more curious when 

 we know that the laws which determine its formation 

 are directly the reverse of those which govern the 

 growth of the horn in other animals, — in our domestic 

 cattle, for instance. The process is a wholly different 

 one. The horns of oxen are known to be more developed 

 than those of the bull*; while the stag's antlers are the 

 emanation of his perfect non-emasculated state. So 

 intimately is their formation connected with the gene- 

 rative system, that should these organs be mutilated, 

 the antlers suffer in proportion. They either take an 

 imperfect, stunted form, or do not shoot forth at all. 

 If such injury occur during the period that the stag's 

 head, to use an heraldic term, is " armed," the animal 

 will never more cast his horn, and as it then is, so will 

 it remain hereafter. 



Immediately before and during the rutting season 

 an extraordinary amount of vital energy seems diffused 

 through the whole bodyf, giving the impulsive force, 

 and supplying the nutrition for so rapid a development. J 



* " It is a notorious and constant fact, tTiat the castrate bovine has 

 longer horns than either the perfect male or female." — Edinburgh Be- 

 vicw, p. 525. April, 1860. 



t An extraordinary instance of this is given at chapter iv. " Chamois 

 Hunting in the Mountains of Bavaria and the Tyrol," second edition. 



J From some observations in a paper on Darwin's " Origin of Species," 

 in the "Edinbiirgh Eeview," April, 1860, it might be supposed that the 



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