4 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
manner and constituted of the same integral parts as other 
bones. These protuberances begin to be developed at a 
given age ; the first appearance being a tubercle, which, in 
most cases, gradually rises into a simple antler, though in 
some species it branches off into ramifications; after a cer- 
tain period the development is arrested, and finally the 
horn is detached and falls off. The learned translators of 
Blumenbach’s Comparative Anatomy* have given the fol- 
lowing explanation of this curious process. “The antler 
adheres to the frontal bone by its basis; and the substance of 
the two parts being consolidated together, no distinction can 
be traced, when the antler is perfectly organised. But 
the skin of the forehead terminates at its basis, which is 
marked by an irregular projecting bony circle, and there 
is neither skin nor periosteum on the rest of it. The time 
of its remaining on the head is one year; as the period of 
its fall approaches, a reddish mark of separation is observed 
between the process of the frontal bone and the antler. 
This becomes more and more distinctly marked, until the 
connexion is entirely destroyed. The skin of the forehead 
extends over the process of the frontal bone when the 
antler has fallen. At the period of its regeneration, a 
tubercle arises from this process, and takes the form of the 
future antler, being still covered by a prolongation of the 
skins. The structure of the part at this time is soft and car- 
tilaginous; it is immediately invested by a true perios- 
teum, containing large and numerous vessels, which pene- 
trate the cartilage in every direction, and, by the gradual 
deposition of ossific matter, convert it into perfect bone. 
The vessels pass through openings in the projecting bony 
circle at the base of the antler ; the formation of this part 
proceeding in the same ratio with that of the rest, the open- 
ings are contracted and the vessels are thereby pressed, 
till a complete obstruction ensues. The skin and perios- 
teum then perish, become dry, and fall off; the surface of 
the antler remaining uncovered.” 
The form and disposition of the antlers differ in every 
species, and the flattened or palmated shape of them in some, 
seems to be a provision of nature to enable the animals to 
obtain their food from beneath the snow, for it is a re- 
markable fact that this structure is almost wholly confined 
to such as inhabit high latitudes, and is developed in propor- 
tion to the length and severity of the climate. 
The sense of smell is very delicate in these animals, and 
they are exceedingly select in their choice of food, applying 
to it the nostrils, and sometimes the spiracula which seem 
to communicate, in some manner, with the olfactory appara- 
tus. This spiraculum or sinus is not found in all species, 
some having only a fold of the skin or none, whilst in 
* Mr. Lawrence and Mr. Coulson. 
others it forms a sack. The French call them Im'miers, 
believing that they are receptacles for tears; this idea has 
also been adopted by poets: thus, Shakspeare gives the fol- 
lowing touching description of a wounded stag: 
“ The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans, 
That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat 
Almost to bursting ; and the big round tears 
Coursed one another down his innocent nose 
In piteous chase.” 
The voice of the genus is in general disagreeable. The 
females produce one or two fawns at a time. In temperate 
regions this takes place in the spring. The intellectual 
character of the Deer is far from contemptible; rendering 
the chase of the stag very curious. The amusement of 
hunting has been as assiduously cultivated among civilized 
nations as with the savage tribes who depend upon it for their 
subsistence. In fact, it was considered as an art, and accom- 
modated with a set of technical phrases. Thus, in the old 
works on “Venerie,” we find that the young animal in the 
first six months of its life was called a calf or hind calf, it 
then became a knobber; then a. pricket, brock, or staggard; 
next a stag, and after that a hart: the female, from a hind 
calf, becomes first a hearse and then a hind. The stag is 
said to harbour in the place in which he resides; when he 
cries he is said to bell; the print of his hoof is the slot ; the 
tail the single; his excrement the feumet; his horns are 
termed his head, and are, in the first year, broches; in the 
third year, spears; in the fourth year, the part bearing the 
antlers is called the beam; he has also antlers , sur-antlers, 
and royal-antlers. These animals afford various articles of 
utility to man. The firm and solid texture of the horns fits 
them for handles to knives and other domestic utensils. The 
skin is dressed into excellent leather. The flesh, as we have 
before observed, affords a pleasant and wholesome food. 
The Common Deer is found from Canada on the north 
to Mexico on the south, and its western range is perhaps 
only limited by the ocean. This beautiful and delicate 
animal is about three feet three inches in height at the 
shoulder, of a light and elegant form, with a long tapering 
nose; the horns reclined on the head turn outwards, and then 
form a decided curve so as to present their extremities for- 
wards; the burr is of a moderate size, and just above it, on 
the internal side of the beam, is a single short antler, inclin- 
ing inwards; the first horn is only a simple pricket, which is 
succeeded by a fork on the summit; in the fifth year, the 
antlers consist of two cylindrical whitish and tolerably 
smooth shafts, separating into two or three snags on the pos- 
terior part of it upwards and outwards. In old animals the 
superior part of the beam flattens, and the snags and point 
become dichotomous; while the burr widens considerably, 
and sometimes throws out spurious collateral shoots. The 
