CONGENERS. 327 



teristic, however, that they spring from the beam in front just 

 above the biuT in a descending direction nearly in the facial line 

 one or both of which usually extend nearly the length of the face 

 and is palmated at the end, presenting numerous snags curving 

 inward. Above, the antler is more or less palmated. The ant- 

 lers on both varieties are of about the same magnitude propor- 

 tioned to the size of the animal. 



As with tlie moose and the elk, the difference in these consists 

 principally in the extent of the palmatation. This feature is 

 even more marked in Tarandus than in Aides. They are also 

 less branched in the European variety than in the • American. 

 These differences will be better understood by an examination 

 of the illustrations • than they could be by verbal descriptions. 

 Those copied from Captain Hardy's " Forest Life in Acadie," ^ 

 present nearly the extreme of palmatation in the American 

 variet}'^, and for that very reason are valuable as showing to what 

 extent this feature sometimes occurs in this country, — an extent 

 which I have nowhere found paralleled in the European variety, 

 either in life, in collections, or illustrations. I have met with a 

 few fancy sketches greatly exaggerating the extent and number 

 of branches on the European variety, which were evidently de- 

 signed to impress those who saw them rather than instruct the 

 student of natural history. These should not mislead us. The 

 illustrations of the antlers of the Woodland Caribou (^ante, pp. 

 200, 202) are carefully drawn copies of specimens in my own 

 collection, and are selected to give the fair ordinary form of the 

 Caribou's antlers, that is, the average form. One of these, from 

 the Caribou, shows as little palmatation as that from the Euro- 

 pean Reindeer and may be considered the other extreme in this 

 regard, and should be set opposite those from Hardy, while the 

 mean between them may be considered the truth. It will be 

 observed, that the nearly palmless antlers of the Caribou are very 

 much stouter than those from the European Reindeer. 



If we take mounted specimens, to be met with in public collec- 

 tions, they would generally be found more palmated, for the sim- 

 ple reason that we are apt to select the best, that is, the largest, 

 the most branching, or most palmated specimens for mounting ; 

 and indeed the hunter is more apt to save these than inferior or 

 ordinar}' specimens, for the reason that they will bring him a 

 higher price. These are matters ever to be borne in mind by 

 him who would study or illustrate nature as it actually exists. 



1 Ante, p. 206. 



