RECENT LITERATURE 
59 
Macewen, William, The Growth and Shedding of the Antler op the 
Deer. The Histological Phenomena and their Relation to the Growth 
OF Bone. Glasgow: Maclehose, Jackson & Co., publishers to the University. 
Pp. i-xvii, 1-109, with 109 half-tone figures. 1920. 
This beautifully illustrated volume is of as great value to the anatomist as 
to any one interested in deer. For the first time we have an anatomical treatise 
on the growth and shedding of the deciduous antler of the deer. This important 
investigation deals in detail with the histological changes which take place in 
the growing antler; it adds much to our understanding of the process of shedding 
of the antlers and explains their phenomenal growth. 
Nowhere among animals do we find such an enormous and rapid reproduction 
of all the elements of the skin as in the growing velvet of the deer, which may 
cover the largest palmate antler within three months. The blood vessels in the 
velvet, which also form in a surprisingly short time, maintain the temperature 
of the growing bone within the hairy covering. These vessels anastomose but 
little with those of the underlying bone. The osseous growth of the antler is so 
rapid that the different phases of bone development may occur coincidentally. 
From the very beginning of antler formation there is going on a preparation for 
shedding. The latter is caused by the constricting of the blood vessels within 
the antler, particularly at the base, through the rapid proliferation of the bony 
tissue around them, which is followed by necrosis. Prior to the shedding, the 
bone on the distal end of the pedicle becomes softened, blood vessels within the 
pedicle increase in number and size, and granulation tissue is formed which 
loosens the connection between the dead antler and the pedicle. The shedding 
of the velvet, which precedes that of the antler, is likewise provided for in early 
stages of its growth. The bony substance emanating from the pedicle overlaps 
the latter, even in the sprouting antler, and forms the corona. The corona sends 
at first bony projections between the blood vessels of the velvet, which thus lie 
well protected in grooves. Gradually, however, these vessels are compressed 
and ultimately strangled by the advancement of ossification in the corona. The 
whole cutis then dries and peels off. The abundant multiplication of the bony 
cells in the growing antler, which are derived from the osteoblasts in the pedicle, 
can hardly be explained by normal cell division alone. The process known as 
nuclear budding may also partly account for this rapid production in ossifica- 
tion. During the growing period the antler is capable of repair after injury; 
at this time the pedicle is full of blood, which it transmits to the interior of the 
antler. After the termination of its development, the antler, no doubt, dies. 
The pedicle, however, must at all times be in active life, and preparing for the 
production of a new antler immediately after the shedding of the old one. 
In addition to these normal conditions, the effect of injury to and disease of 
the pedicle and of castration on the growth of antlers is discussed in this much 
needed book. 
— A. H. Schultz. 
Krieg, H. Ueber die Bildung von Streifenzeichnungen bei Saugetieren. 
Anatom. Anz., vol. 54, pp. 33-40. 1921. 
A preliminary report of investigations on the causes and origin of the stripe- 
distribution in the mammalian skin. Three principal types of arrangement are 
