292 MAMMALIA. 



situated in a muzzle, and their eye is clear and full of gentle- 

 ness. In most of tte species there is, below the internal angle 

 of the eye, a small depression, called a tear-pit, which is nothing 

 but a sort of gland, secreting a peculiar fluid. This gland is not, 

 as might be supposed from the name, the place from which the 

 tears proceed. 



The coat of Ruminants which shed their horns is generally 

 brown or fawn-coloured. It is composed of short, close, and brittle 

 hair, which assumes a somewhat woolly nature in the iaclement 

 regions of the extreme North, more especially ia the winter 

 season. 



These Ruminants live in small droves or herds in forests, on 

 mountains or plains, and feed on leaves, buds, grass, moss, or the 

 bark of trees, &c. They are distributed over all the surface of 

 the globe, both in the hottest and coldest climates. The Reindeer 

 and Elk are peculiar to the northern regions of both continents ; 

 but nimieroris sjDecies are, on the contrary, allotted to hot and 

 temjDcrate countries. 



The family of Ruminants which shed their horns comprehends 

 three genera — the Reindeer, the Elk, and the Deer properly so 

 called — all differing in the shape and size of their antlers. 



Reindeer Genus [Tarandus). — The horns of the Reindeer present 

 a characteristic arrangement, which enables us, without difficulty, 

 to recognise the animal. From the principal stem, which is 

 cylindrical and very short, spring two considerable branches, of 

 flattened shape, the longest of which tends upwards with various 

 twists, terminating in an indefinite number of branches ; the 

 other, stretching horizontally over the muzzle, is more moderate 

 in the number of its points. As a matter of course, it is only of 

 the general conformation of these horns which we are here 

 speaking, or, as it were, their typical shape, which may, indeed, 

 vary to an infinite degree without the chief lines of conformation 

 ceasing to exist. 



We have already said these antlers do not belong exclusivelj;' to 

 the male in this race ; the foniale also has them, but of smaller pro- 

 poi'tions. In the male animal, these antlers sometimes attain dimen- 

 sions which are really extraordinary ; some have been measured 

 which are nearly fom- feet long. This natural ornament is entirely 

 renewed in eight months, and, in the females, five mouths suffice. 



