THE ANTLERS. 193 
though incorrectly, called a horn. As as we have already seen, 
it is an external osseous member, and is as different in its com- 
ponents from true horn, as it is from muscle. Only in its uses 
as a weapon and in its location does it resemble the horn. 
As a whole, the appendage is properly termed an antler. The 
main stem is called the beam; the larger branches from the 
-beam are called tines, and the branches from these and small 
branches from the beam, are called snags. The flattened por- 
tions of either the beam or the tines are called palms. The ir- 
regular enlargement at the base, is called the burr, and the 
-warty eminences, more usually found on the lower portion of the 
beam, are called knobs, warts, or tubercles. The lower anterior 
conspicuous branch, is called the brow-tine, and the next the bez- 
tine, and the third the royal-tine; then the sur-royal, etce 
-These are most distinct on the antler of wapiti. Usually the 
‘first antler grown on the young buck is not branched, but con- 
Moose. 
sists of beam only, and is called a dag or spike antler, and the 
latter term applies to the antlers of the adults when they are not 
branched, which is sometimes the case. The pedicel is the per- 
manent process of the skull on which the antler grows. 
‘The most conspicuous example of palmated antlers is found 
on the largest of the deer family, — our Moose. It, however, 
18 
