PRICE »X3C CENTS 
M.SU PElt VEAIt.l 
[Entered according to Act of CongTesB, in the year 1877, by the Rural iTiblishins; Company, in the oilice of the Librarian of Cons-roHR at Washington.) 
details of its habitat and of all information 
concerning it. 
In speaking of the American Elk, or Wapiti, 
the author Bays: — “But few quadrupeds in 
seventh degree of north latitude; hut I cannot 
tind any evidence that he went so far north on 
eithor coast, 
“Our Elk preferred the woodlands or the 
driven away by the occasional presence of the 
white man. Indeed, they followed the bison re¬ 
luctantly, and braved the danger from their now 
enemies with a certain degeee of resolution. 
They wore found in diminished numbers on onr 
prairies, long after the bison had crossed the 
Mississippi ilivor for safety. Indeed, not until 
the white settlers began to locate on the hordors 
of the groves, did they finally depart. The last 
account I get of their presence in Northern Illi¬ 
nois waif in the year 1820, or theroabouts. In 
18ls they were not. observed oast of the llliuois 
Itiver, and but few were then found on the 
western hank of Unit stream. An old settler of 
high respectability assures mo (bat ho Maw th°ir 
tracks in tho forest north of I’eoria in 1829, but 
did not see the animals. 
“ In Urn Canadas, as also in New Brunswick, 
Nova Scotia, and in tho northeastern parts of 
tho Uoited States, where their range lapped over 
on that of the moose, tho fear of the Whiteman's 
weapons has long since driven them all away, 
although their larger relatives still linger there 
in diminished numbers, no doubt because they 
can evade pursuit, more readily in the deep 
snows which tlioro prevail than the Wapiti wore 
able to do. Mr J. M. La Moino of Quebec In¬ 
forms mo that he can find no account of Wapiti 
having been met with in Lower Canaria in the 
last 1.51) yours, though their fossil antlers are oc¬ 
casionally found there. Mr. 11. Y. Hind, in his 
account of “Explorations of Labrador,” says 
that they remained in the soclnsiou of that pen¬ 
insula till a much later period. 
“Till comparatively recent times they wore 
found in Northern Iowa, and in 1877 I saw sev¬ 
eral accounts of them having been killed in the 
northern part of tho lower peninsula of Michi¬ 
gan, also in Minnesota. So, too, in tho south¬ 
west,, in Arkansas and Texas, they still linger 
where they can flml protection in the dense 
thickets. In California, where they were once 
exceedingly abundant, they are now rarely seen, 
although they maintained their ground for some 
years after tho miners had invaded that terri¬ 
tory, In Oregon and Washington Territories, 
they have been driven back by the white settle¬ 
ments. it is true, but still they are there, though 
in diminished numbers, and the same may he 
said of British Columbia. 
“ From necessity, they no longer abandon a 
country on the first appearance of the white set¬ 
tlers, for now scarcely any place is left for them 
to ll«e to, where they will not hear tho report of 
the hunter's, or the miner’s, or the herdsman’s 
rifle. They are now sometimes met with not far 
west of tho Missouri River, in secluded places, 
THE AMERICAN ELK 
In hooks devoted to special studies and pur¬ 
suits, particularly if these partake of a scientific 
character, by far too little attention is usually 
betowed on the literary stale and treatment of 
tho subject, as well as on the typographical exe¬ 
cution of tho work. There seems to bo an un¬ 
wise presumption that the importance of the 
matters discussed will render tho readers un¬ 
mindful of tlie uncouth garb in which they are 
often presented. Moreover, tho text is com¬ 
monly so disfigured and, to ordinary readers, 
obscured by a superabundance of technical terms 
that it becomes a labor instead of a pleasure to 
rend it understandingly. It is this poverty and 
crudity or language, coupled with this excess of 
abstruse terminology, that make many learned 
works of this kind grievous burdens on tho pa¬ 
tience of their readers and tho shelves of their 
publishers. On the other hand, not a few com¬ 
pilers of pretentions works which profess to deal 
exhaustively with particular departments of 
knowledge, in order to popularize their wares, 
devoto almost all tlitir care to a spicy, but shal¬ 
low treatment of their subjects, omitting alto¬ 
gether all minute hut often important details, 
and all forma of nomenclature likely to demand 
a moment’s thought or investigation from their 
readers, however intelligible these may ho to the 
scholar or tlie adept. 
It is, therefore, with no inconsiderable pleas¬ 
ure that we have read through the advance 
sheets of a work soon to be issued from tho pro¬ 
lific press of Messrs. IIrun A Houghton, and 
which is very agreeably free from these marring 
blemishes and defects. It Is a comprehensive 
treatise on tho Anlilocarpa and OervidiR of North 
America, under the title of “ The Antelope and 
Deer of America.” Tho author iB John Dkan 
Caton, LL.D., whose intimato acquaintance 
with the Bubjoct he treats of, admirably fits him 
for the undertaking. 
The arrangement of the work is at once dis¬ 
criminating, clear, and convenient. Each chap¬ 
ter opens with a columnar list of the various 
scientific names of the animal under review iu 
tho following pages, while in a second column, 
opposite this, are given abundant references to 
the various authors and works who have used 
these names and described the animals. Next 
follows a pithy description of the subject treated 
of in the chapter, which is succeeded by full 
