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 

 nt ers o or( j mar y 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, 



