THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 



145 



F'lQ. 80. — Eeindeer (Rangiftr tarandus). 



the outer surface, while only the tips of the posterior tines are visible, and 



the trez-tine (which is much longer than in the normal form) is foreshortened. 



The position of the plane of the expanded portion of the antlers is another 



point in which RufFs deer approximates to the fallow-deer. 



The reindeer {Bangifer), together with all the remaining members of the 



family, differ from the foregoing in that the lateral metacarpal bones of the 



fore-feet and the corresponding me- 

 tatarsals in the hind-limbs are re- 



pre'.^nted by their lower, instead of 



their upper, extremities. From all 



other deer, the reindeer are at once 



distinguished by having antlers in 



both sexes ; these being very large, 



with the cylindrical beam suddenly 



bent forwards near the middle of 



its length, and having a brow-tine 



which is generally branched and 



palmated on one side, and simple 



on the other. Above the brow-tine 



comes a large bez-tino. In furm, 



reindeer are heavily-built animals, 



with short limbs, in which the main 



hoofs are widely separable, and the lateral pair unusually large, the muzzle 



being broad and hairy. The young, like their parents, are uniformly 



coloured. The ordinary reindeer (R. tarandus) ranges from Norway and 



Sweden over the northern regions of the Old World ; and it is probable that 



the North American variety known as the caribou is not specifically distinct. 



The uses to which reindeer are put by the Lapps and the inhabitants of other 



northern countries are too well known to require mention. 



The largest of all living deer is the elk or moose (Alces maclilis), which 

 is the only living member of its genus, and has a circumpolar distribution, 



ranging in the Old World as far south as 

 Prussia and the Caucasus. It is a long- 

 legged, ungainly-looking animal, with 

 the large, overhanging, broad muzzle 

 covered with short hairs, except a small, 

 naked triangular spot below the nostrils. 

 The tail is rudimental, and the hair of 

 the young uniformly coloured. In the 

 males the enormous antlers arise from a 

 cylindrical beam directed at right angles 

 to the middle line of the skull, and then 

 expand into a huge basin-shaped mass, 

 consisting primarily of an upper and 

 lower moiety, and having the free edge 

 bordered by a number of irregular snags. 

 Elk feed chiefly upon the leaves and twigs 

 of trees ; and during the winter collect 

 in small parties, keeping open a small 

 patch of ground by continually trampling 

 down the snow. Frequently the hind 

 gives birth to a pair of fawns. The ant- 



Fig. 81. —Elk (Alec's machlis). 



V- 



