CERVIDE 325 
the lateral hoofs are well developed, and the cleft between the 
two main hoofs is very deep, so that these hoofs spread out as 
the animal traverses the snow-clad regions in which it dwells. 
The antlers 
(Fig. 131) are 
of very large 
relative size. 
There is a bez 
as well as a 
brow tine, which 
are peculiar in 
being either 4 
branched or #f 
palmated. In 
the American \ 
race (Caribou), 
as well as 
in some of 
the specimens 
found fossil in 
the English 
Pleistocene 
(Fig. 131), one 
of the brow 
tines is gener- 
ally aborted to 
allow of the 
great develop- Fia. 131.—Skull and antlers of the Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), 
ment of the from an English Pleistocene deposit. br, Brow tine; bz, bez tine. 
other. The (After Owen.) 
dentition of the Reindeer is frequently remarkable for the very 
small size of the posterior lobe of the last lower molar. Vertebre : 
C7,D14,L5, 85, C11. 
The Reindeer has long been domesticated in Scandinavia, and is 
of especial value to the Laplanders, whom it serves as a substitute 
for the Horse, Cow, Sheep, and Goat. It is capable of drawing a 
weight of 300 lbs., and its fleetness and endurance are remarkable. 
Harnessed to a sledge it will travel without difficulty 100 miles a 
day over the frozen snow, on which its broad and deeply cleft hoofs 
are admirably adapted for travelling. During the summer the 
Lapland Reindeer feeds chiefly on the young shoots of the willow 
and birch; and since at this season migration to the coast seems 
necessary to the well-being of this animal, the Laplander, with his 
herds, sojourns for several months in the neighbourhood of the sea. 
In winter its food consists chiefly of the so-called reindeer-moss and 
other lichens which the animal makes use of its hoofs in seeking 
