THE MOOSE AND THE CARIBOU * 
By WILLIAM H. TIBBETTS. 
The American moose (Alces americana ) is the nearest 
living relative of the European elk ( A. malchis) and these 
two species are the only ones of their genus. By some 
authorities the two are considered to be identical, while 
others find specific distinctions between them. 
As is the elk in Europe, so is the moose in America, 
the largest representative of the deer family, and among 
American hunters he is the most highly prized as game. 
His name of “moose” is said to be derived from his 
Algonquin Indian name, musu , signifying “wood-eater.” 
He is very different from the wapiti (Cervus canadensis ) to 
which the name of “American elk” has been given, and 
which is not an elk at all but is related to the red deer of 
Europe. 
Moose were formerly very abundant throughout the 
region extending from the wilderness of Maine westward 
to the Great Lakes and beyond, but great havoc has been 
wrought among them, especially during the last twenty-five 
years, by the pernicious activity of professional hunters 
and self-styled “sportsmen,” who kill them when they 
are comparatively defenceless during the period of deep 
snows. Were this slaughter not checked the moose would 
be numbered among the extinct animals of America before 
the close of another decade. But of late years some pro¬ 
tection has been afforded, and now comparatively few are 
killed annually in the United States, most of these being 
in northern Maine or in the States of the far Northwest. 
♦Read before the Society March 30, 1896. 
