DEER. 
339 
Antlers. 
by the name of antlers. Unfortunately, so far as simplicity of classification is con¬ 
cerned, these appendages are not present in all the members of the family, and the 
zoologist has, therefore, to rely partly on other characters in defining the group. 
Still, however, as these antlers are the most characteristic features of the deer-tribe 
as a whole, their importance cannot be overrated, and we accordingly take them 
first into consideration. 
With regard to the meaning of the term antler, it appears that 
the word is derived from the old French antoiller ,—a corruption of 
the late Latin antoculorum (before the eyes),—which was originally applied to that 
branch of the antler which descends over the forehead, and is now designated the 
brow-tine. At a subsequent period the word antler seems to have been employed 
indifferently for all the branches of these appendages, while still later it was used 
to designate the entire appendages themselves. It is in the latter sense that it is 
now employed, the various branches of the antlers being termed tines. 
In addition to being generally more or less branched, the most characteristic 
feature of an antler when fully developed is that its outer surface is rugged and 
devoid of any covering of skin or horn. In fact, for all practical purposes, an 
antler may be regarded as a mass of dead bone borne for a certain period by a 
living animal. Except occasionally, as an individual peculiarity, antlers are shed 
once every year, and, save in 
the reindeer, are pre.sent only 
in the male sex. They arise 
from a pair of longer or 
shorter bony pedicles situated 
on the skull above and behind 
the eyes, and forming part of 
the skull itself. 
When the antlers of a 
stag have been recently shed 
the above - mentioned bony 
pedicles are completely 
covered with skin, and merely 
form small prominences upon 
the upper part of the fore¬ 
head. In a short time, how¬ 
ever, there appear on the 
summits of these pedicles 
small velvety knobs, which 
are highly sensitive and 
tender, and are supplied by head of red deer with new antlers in the “velvet.” 
an unusual number of blood¬ 
vessels. These knobs are formed by a deposition of bony matter, and increase very 
rapidly in size. In young deer and a few of the smaller forms their growth is 
limited to the formation of a simple spike, or a spike with one fork, but in the 
adults of the more typical kinds of deer they branch into a smaller or larger 
number of tines, until they finally assume the form of the complete antler. The 
