Royal Physical Society. 349 



Company who might have a taste that way, to aid me by col- 

 lecting for me, and transmitting to me the proceeds of their 

 exertions. 



Through the kind assistance of Mr Edward Ellice jun., my 

 application was favourably received ; and the Governor and 

 directors not only sanctioned the distribution of my circulars, 

 but charged themselves with it, and undertook to forward to 

 me any collections that might be made, — the only condition 

 imposed being, that the officers of the Company should not 

 allow such collecting to interfere with the proper duties of 

 their stations. 



Five hundred copies of my instructions were accordingly 

 sent out last year, and scattered over the length and breadth 

 of the land ; and the first-fruits of the seed so sown is the 

 arrival, a few weeks ago, of six cases containing different ob- 

 jects of natural history, a portion of which will furnish the text 

 for this paper. 



I begin with the largest objects, viz., four magnificent heads 

 and antlers of rein-deer, which have suggested some remarks 

 on the disputed point of the identity of the European species 

 with that of America, and on one or two other points of inci- 

 dental interest. 



The specimens received were sent by Mr Hargrave of York 

 Factory. In his letter announcing their despatch, he says, 

 — " Since writing the above, I have received from our trad- 

 ing station at Church-hill some specimens of " Esquimaux " 

 rein-deer horns, obtained from the natives who visit that 

 post from the south shores of Chesterfield Inlet, — two pairs 

 of the handsomest of which, and two more from their 

 very peculiar shape, I have caused to be bound into two 

 bundles, under your address, and will ship them to London 

 next month." It thus appears that the locality from which 

 they come is that known as the Barren Ground, which is that 

 sterile district forming the northernmost part of Canada, and 

 bordering the shores of the Icy Sea, and that they belong 

 to the variety described by Sir John Richardson under the 

 name of " Cervus Tarandus, var. a. arctica (Barren Ground 

 caribou)." Whether that variety is or is not a distinct spe- 

 cies is a question still open among naturalists. The weight 



