NORTH AMERICAN RUMINANTS 
Owing to the large size of these animals and the consequent 
difficulty and expense of obtaining and preparing them, very few 
specimens have found their way to museums, and no time should 
be lost in obtaining such series as will adequately represent them, 
since it will soon be too late to secure the animals even for mu- 
seum purposes. A single specimen or a pair of specimens is in- 
sufficient for the purpose, since each species varies greatly in 
color according to season and in other characters according to 
age and sex. Our large museums owe it to posterity to see that 
these animals are suitably represented, preferably mounted as 
groups with their natural surroundings, and in large series for the 
purposes of research and to draw upon later for exhibition, since 
it unfortunately happens that specimens exposed to light as mu- 
seum exhibits quickly deteriorate by fading and from other causes, 
and eventually require replacement by fresh material. 
Horns AND ANTLERS OF RUMINANTS. 
The Ruminants are herbivorous, cud-chewing animals; they 
include the Deer, the Pronghorns, the Antelopes, the Sheep, the 
Goats and the Ox tribe, and hence nearly all of the mammals 
most economically important to man. They form two quite dis- 
tinct divisions according to the nature of their horns, these di- 
visions being known respectively as Solid-horned Ruminants 
and Hollow-horned Ruminants, and also as Antlered Ruminants 
and Horned Ruminants. The first section includes the Deer and 
Pronghorns, and the other the Antelopes and the Sheep, Goat and 
Ox tribes. The antlers of Deer consist of nearly homogeneous 
bony tissue, lighter and more porous in structure than 
ordinary bone; are generally much branched or forked, 
and are shed and renewed every year. They are sec- 
ondary sexual organs, usually present only in the male, and when 
existing in the female, as in the case of the Caribou, they are 
greatly reduced in size. They are shed soon after the rutting 
season, and are renewed by a wholly new growth, acquired slowly, 
so that the fully grown and perfected antler is worn for only a 
few months. During growth it is enclosed in a soft membrane, 
Antlers of 
Deer. 
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