450 ZOOLOGY. 
Fossil remains of deer have been found in both Europe and Asia, in such 
proportions as to induce the supposition that species were more numerous 
during the tertiary epoch than in our days. More than forty species are: 
already named, and others not yet determined. ‘Two species have been 
signalized in the caverns of South America. There can be no doubt that. 
some of them belong to the other genera of the family, and some others will 
constitute new ones, when they shall be better known; for of a good many 
we as yet possess but a fragment of the horns or of the teeth. The genus 
Dicrocera has already been proposed for the oldest species of the meiocene 
of France; and the genus Megaceros for the gigantic fossil Irish deer, the 
whole skeleton of which is known. 
The genus Dorcatherium differs from the deer in having seven aolins 
above and seven below, whiist the usual number is six in each side of both 
jaws. Two species are described, one from Germany, the other from 
France, both from the upper tertiary beds. 
The genus Paleomeryx is characterized by a different folding of the 
enamelled plate of the teeth. Five extinct species have already been 
referred to it. 
The genus Alces (the moose) is characterized by having the points of 
the horns united into one blade or palm, more or less indented. The tail 
very short. The moose (A. dobatus) belongs to this genus, the largest of 
all the species of the cervine family. It is of the size of a horse, of a 
blackish-grey, the adult male provided with broad flattened horns. The 
snout is long and prehensile; the neck provided with a mane. Inhabits the’ 
American continent. The European elk or eland, Cervus alces (pl. 109, 
fig. 10), was formerly thought not to differ from it. A closer comparison 
has shown that they are distinct. 
The genus Elaphus (the stags) is provided with horns in the male only, 
which are round, very large, and rarely palmated. Canine teeth exist in 
the upper jaw of the male; the snout terminates by a distinct muzzle. 
The American stag or elk (H. canadensis) is one fourth larger than the 
European stag or red deer (pl. 107, figs. 1 and 2), and nearly of the same 
color. The antlers are equally rounded, but more developed, and mostly 
without a palm. Inhabits the temperate part of North America. The 
remains of a fossil stag have been found in the United States, and a 
similar one in Europe, for which the genus Strongyloceros has been pro- 
posed. 
The genus Tarandus (reindeer) is characterized by the presence of horns 
and canine teeth in both sexes. The horns themselves are smooth and 
palmated; the muzzle is small; the tail short; the ears moderate. The 
reindeer or cariboo of North America (T. hastalis) is a different species 
from the European, T. furcifer (pl. 109, figs. 8 and 9). The latter, it is 
well known, inhabits Lapland, where it is domesticated by the Laplanders, 
who have numerous herds of them, which, during the summer, they lead to 
the mountains, and in winter bring back to the plains. They are their only 
beasts of burden aad draught ; their flesh and milk serve them for food, their 
skin for clothing, &c. 
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