52 



MAMMALIA. 



Genus Moschus, Lin. Musk. 



A long canine on each side of the upper jaw and projecting 

 from the month in the males ; body slender ; feet small ; 

 tail very short ; hair short ; hoofs formed like those of the 

 ordinary Ruminantia; no lachrymal apparatus; one species 

 has a kind of pouch placed under the belly of the male, in 

 which is inclosed a strong odorous humour known by the 

 name of Mush) the others have no pouch. [Old Conti- 

 nent.] 



Section 11. Ruminantia with Solid Horns. 

 Genus Cervus, Lin. Stag. 



The Stag is an animal of a stately, elegant form ; when full 

 grown he is commonly between four and five feet high ; often, 

 when he enjoys abundance of food, and lives undisturbed by 

 man or the beasts of prey, he attains a much larger size ; his 

 legs are slender and elegant; tail short; ears large and pointed ; 

 his horns lofty and branched. The female is of a smaller 

 and more slender form, and destitute of horns. A reddish 

 brown colour, which has gained this genus the appellation of 

 Red Deer, distinguishes the upper part of the body; the 

 hinder part of the neck and the space between the shoulders 

 are marked with a black list; some part of the face is com- 

 monly black; the sides and under part are white. The 

 Stag loses and renews his horns annually, and, for a while, 

 each set of horns is adorned with an additional branch. The 

 young has no horns the first year ; in his second year his 

 horns are single and straight, and, till his sixth, the number 

 of the antlers continues to increase. From this period they 

 are multiplied so irregularly, that the animal's age is esti- 

 mated not so much by the number of the antlers as by the 

 size and thickness of the whole horns. The sprouting horns 

 are at first extremely tender, and covered over with blood- 

 vessels. They grow not like the horns of the Bull, the Sheep 

 or the Goat, by shooting out new matter at the roots, and mo- 

 ving forward that which is already formed, but, like trees 

 and other vegetable bodies, increase their length by additions 

 at the points. Delicacy and acuteness of the senses distin- 

 guish the Stag in an eminent degree ; his sense of smell is 

 exquisite ; his eye is sparkling, soft and glowing with ex- 



