QUADRUPEDS. 



331 



nails and claws that arm the fingers and toes, the corneous 

 sheath that invests- the horns of the Ox and Antelope — 

 nav. the hoofs of herbivorous quadrupeds, are all epidermic 

 secretions from the vascular cutis, or. in other words, are 

 hairs altered in their form and extent, according to the exi- 

 gencies of the case."* 



Many of the hoofed Quadrupeds are armed with horns, 

 which differ greatly in structure from those of the Rhino- 

 ceros and the Ox. Those of the Deer family, whether paf- 

 mated like those of the Elk. branched like those of the 

 Stag, or simple like those of the American Roes, are annual 

 growths of bone, which are shed and renewed periodically. 

 In an old well-antlered Hart, a u Stag of ten," such as our 

 old poets delight to describe, the process of renewal is one 

 of amazingly rapid energy. In the spring the bony knobs 

 on the skull, covered with skin, begin to swell, tides of 

 blood rush to the head, and great heat and tenderness cha- 

 racterise the prominences. The arteries deposit bone with 

 great rapidity, and the budding-horns grow daily, still 

 covered by a vascular skin, which is, indeed, a tissue of 

 blood-vessels. The skin is covered with a dense short 

 hair, which is technically called " the velvet. 1 ' 



At length the horns, with their branches and antlers, 

 are fully formed, and are still covered with this velvety 

 skin, which is highly sensitive. The arteries now begin to 

 deposit a rough ring of bone around the base, which 

 grooves, through which the great arteries pass. Gradually 

 these grooves are filled up with bony matter, and the 

 arteries, compressed by the constantly added matter, 

 transmit less and less blood to the " velvet," until at 



* "Gen. Outline of Anim. King.," p. 688. 



