ANTLERS OF THE ELK 



341 



shorter and their number remains variable. After 

 the sixteenth year the development will show re- 

 trogression. In very old elk many of the prongs 

 become short and blunt, and often merely scallop 

 the outer edge of the principal blade; the brow 

 prongs, however, continue to be well developed.'^ 

 It would seem that the time when the antlers 



Antlers of an Old Elk 



of elk begin growing, reach maturity, and finally 

 are dropped is more variable than in the case of 

 moose. Martenson was assured by some sports- 

 men from Petrograd, who had been bird shooting 

 in the government of Novgorod, that they had 

 seen three mature elk, on the 12th of April, 1903, 

 which had not yet cast their palmated antlers. 

 This, however, Martenson considered a rare oc- 

 currence.^ 



7 Martenson, uhi supra, pp. 30-31. Martenson was writing in 

 Livonia, southwestern Russia. His statements would probably 

 require some modification in other parts of the empire. 



^ Uhi supra, p. 32. 



