8 CLASS MAMMALIA. 



especially to the substance of this case, and the bony 

 process is called the horn-mould (come creusej. The 

 prominence which the horn envelops increases, like 

 the horn itself, during the life of the animal, and 

 never falls. Such are the horns of the ox, sheep, 

 goat, and antelope. 



In others the prominences are enveloped only by 

 a furry skin, which is in continuation of that of the 

 head, and which is not destroyed. These promi- 

 nences also do not fall off; the Giraffe alone has 

 this kind of horns. 



Finally, in the cervine genus, the prominences 

 covered for a time with a skin, furred like that of 

 the rest of the head, have at their base a ring of 

 bony tubercles, which in growing compress and 

 obliterate the feeding- vessels of this skin. It withers 

 and falls off: the bony prominence thus denuded 

 separates, after a certain time, from the cranium to 

 which it was attached : it falls, and the animal 

 remains without horns. But it quickly sends out 

 new ones, in general larger than their predecessors, 

 and destined to undergo the same revolution. These 

 horns, purely bony, and subject to periodical changes, 

 are called antlers. 



The Stags, (Cervus.) 



Are, then, all the ruminants whose head is armed 

 with antlers ; but, if we except the Rein-deer, 

 the females are always without them. The sub- 

 stance of these antlers, when it has acquired its 



