352 DR. E. LONNBERG ON THE [DeC. 2, 



The following papers were read : — 



1. On the Variation of the Elk [Alces alces). 

 By Dr. Einar Lonnberg, C.M.Z.S. 



[Received November 4, 1902.] 



(With Text-figures 68-76.) 



In Sweden it is not uncommon to hear professional elk-hunters 

 talk of " two kinds of Elk," distinguished as follows :— The one 

 is dark blackish-brown in colour, short-legged, and provided with 

 broadly palmated antlers. It is also said to be less shy and more 

 apt to " make a stand " against dogs when hunted than the other, 

 and, as a rule, is fatter and more fleshy. The second is said to 

 be a longer-legged and more slendei-ly built animal, of a lighter 

 colour, moi'e especially on the legs, which are described as almost 

 whitish. It is usually more shy, and thus more difficult to approach 

 with dogs when hunted. The antlers are deeply cleft, with little or 

 no palmation, and end in long rounded tines. In some districts 

 hunters distinguish these two foims by distinct names, as, for 

 instance, "grass-elk" and " mountain- elk, " and report that they 

 frequent difierent localities ; but the statements on this point are 

 rather vague and contradictory, and it is questionable to how 

 much reliance they are entitled. 



To some extent, at any rate, the above-mentioned variations 

 may be due to difierence of age — an old bull, for instance, being 

 more apt to resist dogs than a younger animal. The difference 

 in colour might also be attributed to the same cause.; and the 

 statements about longer or shoi'ter legs are of no value unless sup- 

 ported by exact measui'ements, a fat and bulky individual appearing 

 shorter-legged than a more slender animal with limbs of the same 

 length. Sportsmen, on the other hand,who concentrate their interest 

 on the trophies they carry home, devote special attention to the 

 antlers ; and it has accordingly become a custom among them to 

 speak about " cervine " as opposed to " palmate " antlers in Elk. 

 Antlers of both types, as well as intermediate forms, have been 

 shown at several exhibitions, and may also be seen in private 

 collections in Sweden. In the Baltic Provinces especially, sports- 

 men have noticed the variation of Elk, and in the ' Baltische 

 Waldmannsblatter ' for 1901 the question has been raised whether 

 there are one or two kinds (" races " or " species " ) of Elk in these 

 counti'ies ; some writers maintaining that there are certainly two 

 forms- — the one with broad shovels (palmations) to the antlers, the 

 other without palmation to these appendag-es, which terminate in 

 long simple tines. The Elk with palmated antlers is said to be 

 somewhat earlier in rutting and cleaning and shedding its antlers 

 than the other. Some sportsmen believe that the non-palmated 

 EUi has immigrated from the north-east into Estland and Livonia ; 

 others, however, deny the immigration theory, and consider the 



