278 



THE OLD-WORLD ELK 



Descriptions of the elk by ancient writers afford 

 as amusing reading as descriptions of the moose 

 by early travelers in America. Sebastian Miinster, 

 in his Cosmography, a Latin folio published in 



Aldrovandus's Female Elk (162 1) 



1554, describes among the animals of Prussia the 

 elk. They are as large as an ass, or a medium- 

 sized horse, he says; their hoofs are used in cases 

 of severe sickness; their skin is so tough that it is 

 not possible to pierce or cut through it; they have 



