HORNED ANIMALS 



belong to the bovine or ox group, to which also the goats 

 and sheep claim a near relationship ; on the other hand, 

 the true deer all belong to the Gervidce. 



Now, these two families are most easily distinguished 

 one from the other, by the simple character of their horns. 

 In the BovidcB the horns are never shed, and the true 

 horn is supported by a bony core that fills up the hollow 

 interior of the lower part of the horns. 



In the deer family, Gervidce, on the contrary, the horns 

 are solid and most frequently branched or bearing numerous 

 points or antlers. Moreover, these horns are cast off 

 annually, and renewed in a most extraordinarily short 

 time. 



The mode of reproduction of deer, or rather stags' horns 

 has been so frequently and fully described, that it appears 

 to me unnecessary to dwell upon this subject, more than 

 to say the blood-vessels that supply this rapid growth are 

 on the outside of the bony horn and covered over with a 

 thick tough skin, externally coated with a velvet-like fur, 

 which peels ofif as soon as the new horn is sufficiently hard 

 to bear the rubbing against the trees or branches of trees, 

 indulged in by these animals at the season in which the 

 renewal of their horns takes place. 



There is one very remarkable animal, differing from all 

 the other ruminants, ^dz. the American prong-homed 

 antelope (Antilocapra Americana). This singular animal 

 does not fit comfortably into any classification, but stands 

 at present alone and unique, being the only known hollow- 

 homed ruminant that sheds its horns. Many years since 

 the North- American Indian hunters tried in vain to per- 

 suade those eminent naturalists, Messrs. Audubon and 

 Backman, that this animal shed its horns. In their second 

 vol. of The Quadritpeds of North America, p. 198, will be 

 found the following words : — 



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