Royal Physical Society, 



351 



racters. Let us, therefore, see what the differences in the 

 characters of the two varieties really are, and examine their 

 extent and value. 



In the first place, the form of the horns is different. Sir 

 John Richardson, indeed, by way of qualifying the value of this 

 character, says, " It is to be recollected, however, that the 

 antlers of the rein-deer assume an almost infinite number of 

 forms, no two individuals having them alike." True ; and the 

 same may be said of the characters of all variable species ; but 

 in them, as in the rein-deer, there is a character of form which, 

 constantly varying in individual detail, is constantly perma- 

 nent in the general effect. The Lapland deer have one charac- 

 ter, the North American another. Sir John Richardson gives 

 figures of two heads of Barren Ground rein-deer, and although 

 the minute details somewhat vary from those I received, the 

 general effect is so much the same, that the figures of the one 

 and the other might be taken for the first two heads sent to me 

 by Mr Hargrave, one of which is figured below (fig. 1) . 



Fig. 1. (North American Species.) 



The most characteristic points in the American species 

 are the triangular-bladed brow antler, the longer and more 

 slender stem, and the fewer processes ; but the first of these 



