828 THE DEER OF AMERICA. 
One set of the illustrations of antlers on the European Reindeer, 
are from a living pair in the Zodlogical Gardens at Berlin, and 
the others are faithful copies of the antlers of a male and female 
wild Reindeer, which I brought from Arctic Norway, procured in 
Tromsée (see ante, p. 203, and post, 829, 3380). I have not illus- 
trated any extreme cases of palmatation of the European variety, 
for the simple reason that I have not met with them, though I 
have examined many collections in Europe; still I have no doubt 
they exist, though far short of those copied from Captain Hardy’s 
valuable work. Those presented I believe fairly illustrate the 
average antler of the European variety, and by comparison the 
reader will readily appreciate the difference in structure which 
my investigations teach me exists. 
There are two other peculiarities common to these varieties 
and not observed on the antlers of the other deer. The first is 
the exceedingly small burr, which frequently in some portions of 
the circumference is quite wanting, and in no part is ever promi- 
nent; and the other is that the beam is never round, but its sur- 
face presents rounded angles and partially flat spaces between 
them, approaching nearer to a triangular form than any other 
figure. ; 
In size the European Reindeer, whether wild or tame, is appre- 
ciably smaller than our Woodland Caribou, though much larger 
than the Barren-ground Caribou. ‘There is as great a difference 
in size between the American and the European varieties of the 
Reindeer as there is between the moose and the elk, the differ- 
ence in both cases being in favor of the American varieties. Thus 
we see that in the American varieties we have the most palmated 
antlers and the largest size. 
The Woodland Caribou in exceptional cases attain to a very 
large size; and from the best examination I have been able to 
give the subject, I think it safe to say that they average one 
quarter to one third larger than the wild Reindeer in Europe. 
Captain Hardy supposed that they attain their best development 
and perfection on the Atlantic side of the continent; but further 
investigations I think tend strongly to show that they are quite 
as large on the western side of the continent. 
In Northeastern Asia the Reindeer are represented, as we have 
elsewhere seen, as attaining an extraordinary size in domestica- 
tion ; and as the experiments in Western Europe do not show that 
man’s direct care and dominion over them have tended to in- 
crease their development, we may fairly presume that the same 
