RUMINANTIA. 
137 
Finally, in the genus of Stags, the prominences, covered for a while with a hairy skin like 
the other parts of the head, have at their base a ring of bony tubercles, which, as they enlarge, 
compress and obliterate the nutritive vessels of that skin, [commonly termed the velvet] . It 
becomes dry, and is thrown off : the bony prominences, being laid bare, at the expiration of 
a certain period separate from the skull to which they were attached ; they fall, and the 
animal remains defenceless. Others, however, are reproduced, generally larger than before, 
which are destined to undergo the same fate. These horns, purely osseous, and subject to 
periodical changes, are styled antlers. 
The Stags {Cervus, Lin.) — 
Are consequently ruminants which have heads armed with antlers ; but, if we except the Rein Deer, 
the females in no instance possess them, [save in rare individual cases *]. The substance of these 
antlers, when completely developed, is that of a dense bone without pores or internal cavity : their 
figure varies greatly according to the species, and even in each species at different ages. These animals 
are extremely fleet ; live mostly in forests ; and feed on grass, the leaves and buds of trees, &c. 
Those species which have antlers either wholly or partially flattened may be first distinguished ; such as — 
The Elk, or Moose Deer (C. alces, Lin.). — As large as a Horse, and sometimes larger; very high upon the legs ; with 
a swoln cartilaginous muzzle, and a sort of goitre, or variously shaped pendulous swelling, under the throat ; hair 
always very stiff, and of an ash-colour, more or less dark. The antlers of the male, at first dagger-shaped, and 
then divided into narrow slips, assume, at the age of five years, the form of a triangular blade, dentelated on its 
outer edge, and borne on a pedicle. They increase with age, so as to weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and to have 
fourteen branches on each horn. The Elk lives in troops in the marshy forests of the north of both continents, 
and its skin forms valuable leather. 
The Rein Deer (C. tarandus, Lin.).— Size of a Stag, but with shorter and stouter limbs ; both sexes have antlers, 
divided into several branches, at first slender and pointed, and finally terminating with age in broad dentelated 
palms : the hair, brown in summer, becomes almost white in winter. It is peculiar to the glacial regions of both 
continents, and is the animal so celebrated for the services which it renders to the Laplanders, who have numerous 
herds of them, which in summer they lead to the 
mountains, and in winter bring back to the plains : 
it is their only beast of burden and draught, its 
milk and flesh serve them for food, its hide for 
clothes, &c. 
The Fallow Deer (C. dama). — Less than the Stag, 
and blackish-brown in winter, fulvous spotted with 
white, in summer ; the buttocks always white, bor- 
dered on each side with black : tail longer than that 
of the Stag, black above and white below. The horn 
of the male is round at base, with a pointed antler, 
and throughout the rest of its length flattened, with 
its outer edge dentelated. After a certain age it 
shrinks, and splits irregularly into several slips. 
This species, the Platyceros of the ancients, has be- 
come common throughout Europe, but appears to 
have been originally from Barbary. A blackish variety 
without spots [even in the fawns] is not uncommon. 
The species with round antlers are more nume- 
rous. Those of temperate climates change colour, 
more or less, with the seasons. 
The Common Stag, or Red Deer (C. elephasy 
Lin.).— Fulvous-brown, with a black dorsal line, 
and on each side of it a series of small pale fulvous 
spots, in summer ; uniform greyish-brown in win- 
ter : the crupper and tail pale fulvous at all seasons. 
It is indigenous to the forests of all Europe, and 
of the temperate parts of Asia. The antlers of 
the male are round, and appear in the second year, 
at first dagger-shaped, and then with branches on 
their inner side, which increase in number with age ; they are crowned finally with a sort of palmation, having 
• There is the head of a female Roe, with antlers, in the Museum of 
the Royal College of Surgeons, London. The connexion of these 
defences, however, with the sexual organs is remarkable. They do 
not grow in emasculated individuals ; and the rutting season imme- 
diately follows their developement. In Lin. Trans, vol. ii. p. 356, an 
instance is recorded of a Doe with only a single horn, resembling that 
of a three-year-old Buck ; and on dissection, the ovary of the same 
side was found to be schirrous. After attaining their maximum of 
developement, the antlers of these animals decrease, in old age, at 
each successive renewal. — E d. 
