192 THE DEER OF AMERICA.’ 
moval as much as it is by nature in the female ; possibly it might 
be so if those organs were removed before they had exercised 
their influence upon the organs of nutrition upon which the antler 
depends for its growth. This is a question I have in vain en- 
deavored to settle ; but I have never been able to save a fawn 
castrated before the first antler had grown. From the fact that 
the antler grown after the operation, never exceeds, or even 
equals in size the one previously grown, I will venture the 
opinion that no antler would grow on the male castrated when 
very young and before the antler has made an appreciable start, 
so that he would always resemble the doe in this regard, but 
in trying this experiment we must remember that the fawn is 
born with the rudiments of the antler already developed, and that 
frequently an appreciable growth may be observed during the first 
year of its life, if it isan early fawn. In early fawns, this growth 
is sometimes sufficient to perforate the skin the first season 
What has been said would be a sufficient answer to Buffon’s 
theory, that the antlers of the Cervide are vegetable growths on 
the animal body, had not all subsequent authors discarded his 
assumption as unworthy of the least consideration. 
It is indeed remarkable that an author so renowned, and who 
devoted so much time and labor to the study of natural history, 
should have observed so superficially as to render such an error 
possible when a very little examination would have prevented it. 
We will now consider the forms and locations and uses of 
the antlers of the different species of the deer. I have already 
alluded to the fact that these have been too much relied upon to 
distinguish species; still they are by no means to be overlooked 
in determining classifications. True, the fawns and the females, 
with the exception of the reindeer, are always without this evi- 
dence, to tell of the species; it is much if they can aid us in 
placing the older males. We shall see, however, that even for 
this they are not reliable, for some very distinct species have 
antlers precisely alike, while sometimes we shall find them widely 
variant in different localities on the same species. After all, our 
investigations of the natural history of these animals would be 
very imperfect, without a careful study of the forms, locations, 
and uses of the antlers, in addition to what has been said of their 
structure and mode of growth. 
It may be proper to explain preliminarily, the terms used in 
the description of this appendage of the deer. It has been often, 
