QUADRUPEDS. 
331 
nails and claws that arm the fingers and toes, the corneous 
sheath that invests the horns of the Ox. and Antelope — 
nay, the hoofs of herbivorous quadrupeds, are all epidermic 
secretions from the vascular cutis, or, in other words, are 
hairs altered in their form and extent, according to the exi- 
gencies of the case.”* 
Many of the hoofed Quadrupeds are armed with horns, 
which differ greatly in structure from those of the Rhino- 
ceros and the Ox. Those of the Deer family, whether pal- 
mated like those of the Elk, branched like those of the 
Stag, or simple like those of the American Roes, are annual 
growths of bone, which are shed and renewed periodically. 
In an old well-antlered Hart, a “ Stag of ten,” such as our 
old poets delight to describe, the process of renewal is one 
of amazingly rapid energy. In the spring the bony knobs 
on the skull, covered with skin, begin to swell, tides of 
blood rush to the head, and great heat and tenderness cha- 
racterise the prominences. The arteries deposit bone with 
great rapidity, and the budding-horns grow daily, still 
covered by a vascular skin, which is, indeed, a tissue of 
blood-vessels. The skin is covered with a dense short 
hair, which is technically called “ the velvet.” 
At length the horns, with their branches and antlers, 
are fully formed, and are still covered with this velvety 
skin, which is highly sensitive. The arteries now begin to 
deposit a rough ring of bone around the base, which 
grooves, through which the great arteries pass. Gradually 
these grooves are filled up with bony matter, and the 
arteries, compressed by the constantly added matter, 
transmit less and less blood to the “velvet,” until at 
* “ Gen. Outline of Anim. King.,” p. 68S. 
