Zoological Society. 



225 



very variable. " The common cow is generally supposed to acquire 

 one ring on the horn every year after the third, but this is far from 

 being a general law. Between the 20th of July and the 31st of 

 October, 1833, the horns of a young Indian Antelope {A. Cervicapra), 

 which I had marked for the purpose in the gardens of the Society, 

 acquired an addition of no fewer than three rings, and an increase 

 of length of a full inch and a half ; and I have observed a similar 

 phenomenon in other species." 



The permanent or deciduous character of the horns is said to de- 

 pend upon their hollo wness or solidity ; and the author, moreover, 

 states that it is not correct to suppose that hollow horns are, strictly 

 speaking, permanent ; the hollow horn is shed, as well as the solid, 

 but in a different sense. " Buffon has been much ridiculed for as- 

 serting this fact with regard to the domestic ox, but Buffon was a 

 much better observer than his critics ; and I have myself verified his 

 observations on many other Ruminants. If the horns of any young 

 animal be examined, it will be found that they are of a coarse, sca- 

 brous, spongy texture, very thick and blunt in proportion to their 

 length, and hollow nearly to the point : let the same individual be 

 examined when it arrives at maturity ; the horns, especially towards 

 the extremity, have a close, compact, and polished surface ; they are 

 much attenuated, end in a very fine point, and have the terminal 

 third perfectly solid. These changes do not arise from the mere 

 rubbing and polishing of the horn, as is commonly supposed. That 

 hypothesis does not account for the difference of texture and solidity 

 which distinguish the old and young horns ; but the truth is that, as 

 in the case of the second dentition, the permanent organ is developed 

 under, or rather within the other, and by its growth gradually car- 

 ries it upwards, and supports it like a sheath or scabbard. The 

 young horn thus severed from the vessels which formerly supplied 

 it with nutriment, dries up, bursts from the expansion of the perma- 

 nent horn within it, and exfoliates in large irregular stripes, leaving 

 the latter with the finely polished surface, and solid, sharp, attenu- 

 ated points w T hich distinguish them. As far as my observations en- 

 able me to judge, this exfoliation takes place only once during the 

 life of the animal, and that at the period of adolescence, immediately 

 before the appearance of the first annulus. Though it does not take 

 place all at once, nor absolutely deprive the animal of horns for a 

 certain period, it is nevertheless a true and actual shedding of these 

 organs, and accounts satisfactorily for many phenomena which I 

 found inexplicable before making these observations. The horns of 

 the Oryxes, for instance, which in the adult state are remarkable for 

 their straightness and extreme sharpness, have the points very blunt, 

 and bent backwards, almost at a right angle, in the young animal ; 

 and the Koba, or Sing-Sing, whose permanent horns are partially 

 lyrated, has the young organs nearly straight, as may be observed in 

 the specimen now in the Society's museum. It is only necessary 

 to observe further, that the young horn, which afterwards exfoliates, 

 appears to be entirely the growth of the first year, though it gene- 

 rally remains a much longer time before being cast. A young Leu- 

 Ann. §■ Mag. Nat. Hist. Nov. 1 810. q 



