takes place at different times in the young and older animals. I cannot do better than bring his views before the reader in his own words, particularly as he comes to a different opinion from that which I felt disposed to adopt on one or two of the points which I speculated upon. Mr Mackenzie says—“ I have consulted one of our most intelligent natives, a man of about sixty years of age, who has been a deer hunter from his youth, and the result of our "conference" I will presently give you. I send by the ship a deer's head and antlers, which were received about last Christmas, and said to have been killed early in December; it bears some resemblance to the North American species, a representation of which is given in your pamphlet, although the brow antler, however, forms a small angle with the head, and does not come down parallel with it, as in the heads sent you by Mr Hargrave; it has also a second projecting prong, bent near the head, without any terminal points or fingers, but these it would have had, had the animal lived a year or two more; indeed the horns do not cease growing till the seventh year. I do not believe that the brow antler is intended for the purpose of clearing away the snow, but is intended rather as a means of defence against the animal's numerous enemies. The wolf, wolverine, and lynx, destroy them, I am informed, in great numbers; but the animal, on its guard, appears to me to have a good means of defence in his brow antler. Generally, however, he is taken at a disadvantage; when lying down, and off his guard, the lynx (of the cat tribe) moves stealthily along, and with a bound springs upon his back, and fastening his claws in his neck and throat, worries him to death. The wolf and wolverine are not numerous (the latter, indeed, is rarely found) in this part of the country, but of the three the latter is the most savage, and with him the deer has little chance of escape when attacked. Indian opinion here is, that for clearing away the snow, the animal uses his fore-legs alone; and whether it is hard or soft, they are well adapted for the purpose. My own opinion is, that our rein-deer is the same as the Lapland rein-deer. The following information, collected as I have already mentioned, may tend to throw some light on the subject. The rutting season is in September; the females carry

their young till the latter end of May or beginning of June, or till the last snow is disappearing. The horns begin to grow in about a month; at the end of the year they fall off, being about 8 inches long, and not branched; at the end of the second year they are about 13 feet long, curved, and with terminal points, and are cast off in spring; the third year the front and brow antlers commence to grow, but are not large at the end of the year, and are cast off again in spring; the fourth year they are larger, but not full-grown, and are cast off in spring; the fifth year they are still growing, and are cast off in March; after the fifth year they are cast off in November. The Indian also states, that the antlers have a variety of shapes, and that it is rare to find two exactly alike. With regard to the training or domestication of the rein-deer I can say nothing from my own experience, nor from that of any Indian at this place; but I may mention, that I have recently seen a gentleman who passed many years near the head waters of the River Synauria (a river which falls into the St Lawrence, near the Town of Three Rivers, in Lower Canada), and that he had seen a young rein-deer among the Indians as tame as a lamb; it entered the lodge, and followed its master like a dog; but it was at last killed by the dogs."

Mr Mackenzie's observations will be of use in correcting misconceptions on one or two of the points alluded to by me. It would appear that the American species uses its feet in clearing away the snow from its food, as much as the Lapland species does; and the cup-shaped structure of its feet, as shown in the specimens now sent home, is admirably adapted for this. That it does not use the projecting shovellike brow antlers for the same purpose I am less willing to admit; the apparent adaptation of their form to this purpose induces me to defer forming a definite opinion upon it until further information be obtained; the rather that, however intelligent and truthful the Indian referred to by Mr Mackenzie may be, his statement is merely negative, and is inconsistent with the observations of such authors (few in number though they be) as notice the point.

As to the identity of the Lapland species with the North

VOL. II.

C

American, we cannot expect to arrive at any correct result, until we have the means of making a more complete comparative examination than has yet been done of the two species alongside of each other. Notwithstanding the greater distance of its locality, we possess both better materials and more accurate information on scientific points regarding the species from North America than that from Lapland. It is to the latter that our inquiries should now be directed, and more accurate information sought for on such points as the periods of growth and shedding of the horns, referred to in my previous communication, and in Mr Mackenzie's letter. His statements on this point have been confirmed to me by Mr Hargrave, who also informs me, that the head with distorted horns, sent last year, which was figured in the first part of this paper, was that of a young animal, not more than two years old. He mentions, that a slight bend is common in the first year; that this becomes of the distorted form above referred to in the second year, but afterwards disappears. I was misled, by the teeth being much worn, into the supposition that it was an old animal. These worn teeth must be the milk teeth; and we thus have incidental information as to the period the animal carries them.

Information on such points becomes of importance, because the North American and Lapland species are so closely allied to each other, that we cannot expect to find distinctions of a prominent nature, and must be content with the accumulation of those of a more subordinate character. I may notice, that I find the view which I adopted-viz., that the species are distinct has also been entertained by Professor Spencer Baird of America, who, in his recent "General Report upon the Zoology of the several Pacific Railroad Routes, Part I.— Mammal," includes two species of rein-deer as inhabiting the northern shores of North America (the Rangifer caribou and R. Grænlandicus), and both distinct from the Lapland deer; at the same time admitting that their distinctness is questionable.

MOOSE DEER (Cervus Alces, Lin.).—Mr Hargrave has had the kindness to send me a magnificent head and horns of this fine elk, which is another animal as to whose identity with its

European representative we are still in doubt. The Scandinavian elk is undoubtedly very near it, if not the same.

The enormous palmation and weight of the horns in this species is very striking. Colonel Smith says that the horns sometimes weigh fifty pounds. The present specimen weighs 32 lb., but that is inclusive of the head. Sir John Richardson, in his account of the animal, records a statement relating to the horns of deer which I think must have originated in some curious mistake. Speaking of the moose deer, he says," It is probable, however, that La Hontan in this passage confounds the Canada stag and moose deer together. He mentions the animal being able to run in the summer season for three days and nights in succession, and the excellent flavour. of its flesh-facts which apply to the moose deer, but not to the Canada stag; on the other hand, the weight of the horns, which he says sometimes amounts to four hundred weight, is true only of the stag." Now, the Canada stag, or wapiti, is the representative of the red deer in America, and was indeed long thought to be identical it is a larger animal than our stag, but smaller than the moose, which is as high as a horse. Large specimens of the male moose are mentioned, which have attained a weight of eleven or twelve hundred pounds; and is it possible that a smaller animal should have. horns weighing four hundred weight? I suspect a cypher has been added, and that we should read 40 lb. instead of 400, which would then make it clear that the animal referred to by La Hontan was the moose. With regard to the moose being able to run for three days and nights in succession, an instance of its doing so is recorded in the narrative of Captain Franklin's second journey, where three hunters pursued a moose deer for four successive days, until the footsteps of the deer were marked with blood, although they had not yet got a view of it. At this period of the pursuit, the principal hunter had the misfortune to sprain his ankle, and the two others were tired out; but one of them having rested for twelve hours, set out again, and succeeded in killing the animal, after a further pursuit of two days' continuance. The cause of the footsteps being marked with blood might be from the phalanges of the hoof splitting, or possibly from the

hoof becoming worn down by incessant and long-continued action on the icy crust of the snow. We are accustomed to hear of the cattle in long journeys in the Cape of Good Hope and Australia becoming knocked up, and the traveller being arrested in his journey by the failure of his beasts of burden. I daresay many people entertain the idea (as I did myself) that this knocking up was the consequence of physical exhaustion on the part of the cattle. Mr Ford, one of the best zoological draftsmen in Britain, first enlightened me on this point. He had accompanied Dr, now, deservedly, Sir Andrew Smith in one or more of his exploratory expeditions to the interior of the Cape; and he told me that this failure of the cattle was occasioned, not by exhaustion, but by the actual wearing away of the hoof, till blood oozed from it at every pore. The Calahari desert was particularly obnoxious, as it is composed of a slaty formation, highly inclined, which shivered easily off into sharp fragments. It was like walking on bundles of penknives, with their edges placed upwards. The cattle gave in sooner in this desert than in any other district, in consequence of the greater abrasion of the hoofs upon this slaty formation; and, till they grew again, the animal was useless, and scarcely. even to crop its food, would it stir from the spot where it was unyoked. I do not know what length of time would be necessary to incapacitate an ox,-of course, it must be various, according to the extent and nature of the ground travelled over; but although soft snow might protect it longest, I imagine the brittle fragments of a hard frozen crust of snow might be not much less destructive than the slaty splinters of Calahari.

I have examined the hair of the moose deer, and find that its structure is the same as that of the rein-deer, which I have already described in my paper last year.

ALPINE HARE (Lepus glacialis, Leach).-This beautiful hare furnishes an admirable example of the adaptation of structure to habit. For heat and comfort nothing can surpass its thick, delicate, white fur, which, on the under side of the paws, assumes such a compact, double-plied, felt-like character, that one would think no degree of cold could penetrate