THE ANTLERS. 171 
in thickness. When the beam has attained the height where it 
is to throw off a branch, it first becomes flattened at the end, and 
then the bifurcation takes place, and the two parts grow on pari 
passu, ever increasing in length but not in diameter, that which 
is to be the longest growing faster than the other, and so on to 
the completion of the external growth, so that all the parts shall 
be completed at about the same time. The burr of the antler is 
however an exception. It does not attain its full diameter at 
first, but is gradually enlarged during the growth of the antler, 
though it attains its full size before the growth of the antler is 
completed. When this growth is finished externally, the vascu- 
lar covering, called the velvet, and which consists of the perios- 
teum overlaid with a black thin skin covered with a short dense 
fur, is rubbed off by the animal against small trees or other con- 
venient objects. At the time it is thus rubbed off this outer 
covering is quite tenacious and gorged with blood. I once saw a 
large elk in my grounds, soon after he had commenced this work 
of denudation. ‘This velvet was stripped into long strings, which 
depended from various parts of the antlers, some reaching as 
low as his knees. These shreds looked like red cords; the head, 
neck, and breast were covered with fresh blood, and the entire 
antlers appeared smeared with blood still moist. The animal 
appeared flushed and irritated, and soon rushed away to the 
thicket, and when I next saw him not a vestige of the blood or 
the shredded skin remained, but the antlers were clean and very 
white. 
T had a very tame buck of the common species, with which I 
desired to try the effect of castration upon the immature ant- 
lers. I delayed the operation as long as I dared, and then, with 
the aid of some stout men, caught him, but he thrashed about at 
such a rate that in spite of us he hit his antlers against the 
ground and other objects, and to my surprise I observed the skin 
to peel off in long strings, scattering the blood with which it was 
fully charged in every direction. I saw at once that it was too 
late to execute my original purpose, and so I contented myself 
with a careful study of the antlers and their late covering, and in 
detaching portions still remaining. The surface of the antlers 
seemed hard and well matured, and the points hard and sharp, 
but I detected no interception of the blood-vessels around the 
burr, although that part of the antler had attained its full devel- 
opment more than a month before. There I could distinctly see 
the unobstructed arteries, some passing through holes and others 
