THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY 



manner, and constituted of the same integral parts as other 

 bones. These protuberances begin to be developed at a 

 given age; the first appearance being a tubercle, which, in 

 most cases, gradually rises into a simple antler, though in 

 some species it branches off into ramifications; after a cer- 

 tain period the development is arrested, and finally the 

 horn is detached and falls off. The learned translators of 

 Blumenbach's Comparative Anatomy* have given the fol- 

 lowing explanation of this curious process. " The antler 

 adheres to the frontal bone by its basis; and the substance of 

 the two parts being consolidated together, no distinction 

 can be traced, when the antler is perfectly organized. But 

 the skin of the forehead terminates at its basis, which is 

 marked by an irregular projecting bony circle, and there 

 is neither skin nor periosteum on the rest of it. The time 

 of its remaining on the head is one year; as the period of 

 its fall approaches, a reddish mark of separation is observed 

 between the process of the frontal bone and the antler. 

 This becomes more and more distinctly marked, until the 

 connexion is entirely destroyed. The skin of the forehead 

 extends over the process of the frontal bone when the 

 antler has fallen. At the period of its regeneration, a 

 tubercle arises from this process, and takes the form of the 

 future antler, being still covered by a prolongation of the 

 skins. The structure of the part at this time is soft and 

 cartilaginous; it is immediately invested by a true perios- 

 teum, containing large and numerous vessels, which pene- 

 trate the cartilage in every direction, and, by the gradual 

 deposition of ossific matter, convert it into perfect bone. 

 The vessels pass through openings in the projecting bony 

 circle at the base of the antler; the formation of this part 

 proceeding in the same ratio with that of the rest, the open- 

 ings are contracted and the vessels are thereby pressed, till 

 a complete obstruction ensues. The skin and periosteum 

 then perish, become dry, and fall off; the surface of the 

 antler remaining uncovered." 



The form and disposition of the antlers differ in every 

 species, and the flattened or palmated shape of them in some, 

 seems to be a provision of nature to enable the animals to 

 obtain their food from beneath the snow, for it is a remark- 

 able fact that this structure is almost wholly confined to such 

 as inhabit high latitudes, and is developed in proportion to 

 the length and severity of the climate. 



The sense of smell is very delicate in these animals, and 

 they are exceedingly select in their choice of food, applying 

 to it the nostrils, and sometimes the spiracula, which seem 

 to communicate, in some manner, with the olfactory appa- 

 ratus. This spiraculum or sinus is not found in all species, 

 some having only a fold of the skin or none, whilst in 



* Mr. LaMTcnce and Mr. Coulson. 



others it forms a sack. The French call them larmiers, 

 believing that they are receptacles for tears; this idea has 

 also been adopted by poets: thus, Shakspeare gives the fol- 

 lowing touching description of a wounded stag: 



" The wTetched anima] heav'd forth such groans, 

 That Iheir dischargee did stretch his leathern coat 

 Almost to bursting; and the big round tears 

 Coursed one another down his innocent nose 

 In piteous chase.'' 



The voice of the genus is in general disagreeable. The 

 females produce one or two fawns at a time. In temperate 

 regions this takes place in the spring. The intellectual 

 character of the Deer is far from contemptible; rendering 

 the chase of the stag very curious. The amusement of 

 hunting has been as assiduously cultivated among civilized 

 nations as with the savage tribes who depend upon it for 

 their subsistence. In fact, it was considered as an art, and ac- 

 commodated with a set of technical phrases. Thus, in the old 

 works on " Venerie," we find that the young animal in the 

 first six months of its life was called a calf or hind calf, it 

 then became a knobber; then a pricket, brock, or staggard; 

 next a stag, and after that a hart: the female, from a hind 

 calf, becomes first a hearse and then a hind. The stag is 

 said to harbour in the place in which he resides; when he 

 cries he is said to hell; the print of his hoof is the slot; the 

 tail the single, his excrement the feiimet; his horns are 

 termed his head, and are, in the first year, broches; in the 

 third year, spears; in the fourth year, the part bearing the 

 antlers is called the beam; he has also antlers, sw-antlcrs, 

 and royal-antlers. These animals aflbrd various articles of 

 utility to man. The firm and solid texture of the horns fits 

 them for handles to knives and other domestic utensils. The 

 skin is dressed into excellent leather. The flesh, as we have 

 before observed, affords a pleasant and wholesome food. 



The Common Deer is found from Canada on the north, 

 to Mexico on the south, and its western range is perhaps 

 only limited by the ocean. This beautiful and delicate 

 animal is about three feet three inches in height at the 

 shoulder, of a light and elegant form, with a long tapering 

 nose; the horns, reclined on the head, turn outwards, and 

 then form a decided curve so as to present their extremities 

 forwards; the burr is of a moderate size, and just above it, 

 on the internal side of the beam, is a single short antler, in- 

 clining inwards; the first horn is only a single pricket, which 

 is succeeded by a fork on the summit; in the fifth year, the 

 antlers consist of two cylindrical whitish and tolerably 

 smooth shafts, separating into two or three snags on the 

 posterior part of it upwards and outwards. In old animals 

 the superior part of the beam flattens, and the snags and point 

 become dichoinotous; while the burr widens considerably, 

 and sometimes throws out spurious collateral shoots. The 



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