THE ANTLERS. 233 



spike antlers, and I have noticed an account of one in California, 

 probably a Columbia deer. One example is found in the Smith- 

 sonian collection which I have had an opportunity of studying. 

 The antlers are on low, small pedicels. They are in the velvet, 

 but appear to have been nearly matured. They are about six 

 inches in length and half an inch in diameter, and have a grace- 

 ful anterior curvature, and spread apart less than is usual on the 

 spiked buck. The spike on the perfect buck is always straight, 

 so far as my observations extend, and I have examined hundreds, 

 I presume, so that this anterior curvature distinguishes it from 

 the spike on the male. I have, however, noticed a similar cur- 

 vature on the velvet antler of a castrated buck, where the opera- 

 tion was performed when he carried his spike antlers, and had I 

 met with this specimen without information that it was from a 

 female, I should have concluded it was from a young castrated 

 buck. But I am willing to accept the statement that it was from 

 a female. 



Such an occurrence may be as probable as that a woman should 

 have a full flowing beard, which we sometimes, though very rarely, 

 see. 



I have noticed many other accounts in sporting papers and in 

 the journals of the day, of antlered does having been killed, and 

 if mention was made of their form and condition, they were 

 always small spike antlers and in the velvet ; and the periods 

 when the notices appeared would indicate that they were killed 

 when the antlers on the bucks had perfected their external growth 

 and lost their velvet. Now this has suggested to me the pos- 

 sibility, that when the antler is found upon the doe, it is still of 

 an imperfect growth, like the antlers upon the castrated buck, so 

 that it never matures so far as to lose its velvet, and that in win- 

 ter it is frozen and broken off without being shed as is the antler 

 of the perfect buck. It may not be improbable that these antlered 

 does will always be found to be barren. My observations upon 

 the effect of castration on the growth of the antlers of the buck, 

 show that there is an intimate connection between the repro- 

 ductive organs and the growth of antlers, and so it is not un- 

 reasonable to suppose, that the phenomenon of antlers upon a 

 female deer may arise from some peculiarity in the ovaries, or 

 some other of the genital organs. 



I make these suggestions more with the hope that those who 

 may have the opportunity, may be induced to make careful ob- 

 servations on the subject, than for any other value which they 

 may possess. 



