ANTLERS OF THE ELK 



335 



the protection of young males, together with the 

 natural desire of the sportsman to secure the best 

 possible trophies, has left for breeding only the 

 elk with inferior antlers. Furthermore, the ad- 

 vanced agricultural conditions of western Russia 

 and Scandinavia may easily have exerted an un- 

 favorable influence, the elk being deprived of some 



of the articles of forage to which he had been 

 accustomed. 



Many Siberian antlers are notable for long and 

 heavy main beams, resembling the fossil antlers 

 of the long-extinct Alces latifrons of western 

 Europe. The main beam of the Siberian specimen 

 here illustrated is more than eight inches in length 

 between the burr and the beginning of the palma- 

 tion, and it has a circumference of j]/^ inches. 

 The extreme spread is 52 inches.^ 



'Martenson, uhi supra, p. 35. These antlers are the property of 

 E. Buchner of Petrograd. They were taken in the vicinity of Krasno- 

 yarsk, Siberia. 



A Peculiar Siberian Type 



