REINDEER. ELK. 



51 



Deer and Chinese Water-Deer ; while in all cases the lower 

 canines have simple crowns (fig. 38), and are thus unlike those of 

 the Giraffida. Deer are mostly forest animals, and are distributed 

 over all the world (exclusive of Australasia), with the remarkable 

 exception of Africa south of the tropic of Cancer and Madagascar. 



The Reindeer, The Reindeer, or Caribou, Rangifer tarandus 

 Or Caribou. (1260), inclusive of its many local phases, forms a [Lower 

 Genus Rangifer. genus by itself, readily distinguished from all other QaUery^ 

 Deer by the peculiar form of the antlers (fig. 40), and their presence Cases B 

 in both sexes. Frequently — and more especially in American & 58 '^ 

 examples — one brow-tine of the antlers is much more developed 

 than the other. In the feet the lateral pair of hoofs is unusually 

 large, and the cleft between the main pair very deep ; thus 

 allowing the hoofs to spread out widely, and so to afford a firmer 

 support on the yielding snow. In Scandinavia the Reindeer has 

 long been domesticated ; and not only serves the natives as a 

 beast of burden and draught, but likewise supplies them with 

 clothing, milk, and meat. Harnessed to a sleigh, it will draw a 

 load of 300 lbs. a distance of 100 miles per day over the frozen 

 snow. In summer the chief food of the Lapland Reindeer consists 

 of a peculiar kind of moss and certain lichens which the animals 

 search for by scraping away the snow with their feet. The wild 

 Reindeer is a considerably larger animal than the domesticated 

 breed. Young Reindeer are not spotted. The Scandinavian, or 

 typical, Reindeer is represented by a male and female presented by 

 Sir William and Mr. C. Ingram, and by a male of Osborn's Caribou 

 (R. tarandus osborni) from the Yukon, and of the Newfoundland 

 R. t. terrce-nova presented by Mr. F. C. Seious, as well as by 

 other specimens. 



The Elk ^ n addition to being the largest of living Deer, Elk, [Cases A 

 or Moose. or Moose, Alces machlis, or A. alces (1261), are & 60 '^ 

 Genus Alces. distinguished from other members of the Cervidce by 

 the form of the antlers of the males (fig. 41) . These arise as cylin- 

 drical beams projecting on each side at right angles to the middle 

 line of the skull, which after a short distance divide in a fork-like 

 manner. The lower prong of this fork may be either simple, or 

 divided into two or three tines, with some flattening. In the East 

 Siberian A. m. bedfordice (1262), as well as in some Scandinavian 

 Elk, the posterior division of the main fork divides into three tines, 



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