326 UNGULATA 
for beneath the snow. The wild Reindeer grows to a much greater 
size than the tame breed; but in Northern Europe the former 
are being gradually reduced through the natives entrapping and 
domesticating them. 
The tame breed found 
in Northern Asia is 
much larger than the 
Lapland form, and is 
there used to ride on. 
Remains referable to 
the existing species are 
found in the cavern 
and other Pleistocene 
deposits of Europe. 
A lees.i—The Elk or 
Moose (Alces machlis) 
has the same general 
distribution as the 
Reindeer, and is like- 
wise the single existing 
representative of its 
genus. Itis the largest 
existing member of the 
Frio, 132.—Hinder part of the base of the cranium of the family, attaining some- 
Virginian Deer (Cariacus virginianus). From Garrod, Proc. times a height of 8 feet 
ACG SOD ATs BTS, at the withers. The 
antlers (Fig. 133) have neither brow nor bez tine, but form an 
enormous basin-shaped palmation, primarily composed of an anterior 
and a posterior branch; their weight may be as much as 60 lbs. 
The nasal bones are very short, and the narial aperture of great 
size. The Elk is covered with a thick coarse fur of a brownish 
colour, longest on the neck and throat. Its legs are long and 
its neck short, and as it is thus unable to feed close to the 
ground, it browses on the tops of low plants, the leaves of 
trees, and the tender shoots of the willow and birch. Its antlers 
attain their full length by the fifth year, but in after years they 
increase in breadth and in the number of snags, until fourteen of 
these are produced. Although spending a large part of their lives 
in forests, Elks do not suffer much inconvenience from the ereat 
expanse of their antlers, as in making their way among ‘trees 
they are carried horizontally to prevent entanglement with the 
branches. Their usual pace is a shambling trot, but when frightened 
they break into a gallop. The natural timidity of the Elk 
forsakes the male at the rutting season, and he will then attack 
whatever animal comes in his way. The antlers and hoofs are his 
1 Hamilton-Smith, in Griffith's dnimal Kingdom, vol. v. p. 303 (1827). 
