82 NOTES ON THE RED-DEER. BY G. P. HUGHES 



ruminants, now constituting the family Cervida, have sufficiently 

 marked distinctions for subdivision into a number of genera, or 

 whether they should be regarded as forming only one. Compact- 

 ness and strength, with slenderness of limb, and fleetness, are 

 combined with graceful form and carriage. They have a long 

 neck, a small head, which they carry high, large ears, and large 

 full eyes. In most of them there is, below each eye, a sac, or 

 fold of the skin, called the lachrymal sinus, the use of which is 

 not anatomically understood, but which had not escaped the 

 observation of the " poet of all time," in one of his imperishable 

 plays. 



Deer have eight cutting teeth in the lower jaw, and the males 

 have usually two short canines in the upper jaw. The prsemolars 

 are three, and the true molars three on each side in each jaw. 



The fur of the stag exhibits a fibrous brown hue generally, 

 the rump being marked by a pale patch on eitber side of the 

 short tail, which is also of a light colour. In the fawn the hide 

 is marked with white spots. The true stag and deer are at once 

 distinguished by the presence of deciduous branching antlers in 

 the male, the female being in nearly all cases destitute of these 

 ornaments. They vary much in character, being cylindrical or 

 rounded in some species, and flattened and palmate in others. 

 They are bony out-growths from the frontal bones of the 

 cranium, and, being developed periodically, have an important 

 physiological significance. An extraordinary supply of blood 

 seems to be provided for these bony out-growths at the spring of 

 the year, and the vessels surrounding the frontal eminence 

 enlarge. This increased vascular action results in the secretion 

 of formative bony matter, producing a swelling or budding at 

 the summit of the frontal bones, at the spot where the horns of 

 the previous season had separated. In the early condition the 

 horn is soft and yielding, and it is protected only by a highly 

 vascular periostium and delicate integument, the cuticular 

 portion of the latter being represented by various fine hairs, 

 closely arranged. From this circumstance the skin is termed 

 "the velvet." As development goes on, a progressive consoli- 

 dation is efltected ; the ossification proceeds from the centre to 

 the circumference, and a medullary cavity is ultimately produced. 

 While this is taking place a corresponding change is observed at 

 the surface. The periosteal veins acquire a great size, and by 

 their presence occasion the formation of grooves on the subjacent 



