186 THE TOWER MENAGERIE. 
two distinct and apparent toes, above which they have 
also the rudiments of two others. Some of the species 
have canine teeth in the upper jaw, generally in the 
males alone; and they have all six molars on each side. 
In the greater number of them the nostrils are surrounded 
by a naked muzzle; and most of them are also provided 
with a sinus or sac, of greater or less extent, immedi- 
ately beneath the inner angle of the eye, called the sub- 
orbital sinus, the larmier of the French zoologists. 
The horns, which form the most distinguishing cha- 
racter of the genus, are perfectly solid throughout their 
whole extent. Their form varies very considerably in 
the different races; but they are constantly uniform in 
the same species, unless accidentally or artificially per- 
verted from their natural growth. In some they are 
simple at the base and terminate in a broad and palmate 
expansion, which is variously lobed and divided; in 
others they are more or less branched, giving off antlers 
in different directions; and in some few they are short 
and nearly simple. They fall off and are renewed 
annually in all the species which inhabit the northern 
and temperate regions of the earth, and in those in 
which they attain any considerable size; but Sir T. Stam- 
ford Raffles was of opinion, and his opinion has been in 
some measure confirmed by the observations of Major 
C. Hamilton Smith, that several of the tropical species 
with small and nearly simple horns are exempted from 
this general law. The horns are smaller and less de- 
veloped in the young than in the full grown and adult 
animal, and diminish again in size, and frequently 
become irregular, as he advances in age. In one species 
alone, the Rein-Deer of the North, the female wears the 
