continues so to do until they have acquired their
due development and solidity. This skin is a
tissue of blood-vessels, and the courses of the
large arteries from the head to the end of the
antlers are imprinted on the latter in long furrows,
which are never obliterated. In ordinary language,
the skin investing the antlers is termed velvet,
being covered with a fine pile of close short hair.
Suppose, then, the antlers of the young deer now
duly grown, and still invested with this vascular
tissue; but the process is not yet completed.
While this tender velvet remains the deer can
make no use of his newly-acquired weapons,
which are destined to bear the brunt of many a
conflict with his compeers: it must, therefore, be
removed, but without giving a sudden check to
the current of blood rolling through this extent
of skin, lest by directing the tide to the brain, or
some internal organ, death be the result. The
process then is this:—as soon as the antlers are
complete (according to the age of the individual),
the arteries at their base, where they join the permanent footstalk (always covered with skin) begin
to deposit around it a burr, or rough ring of bone,
with notches through which the great arteries
still pass. Gradually, however, the diameter of
these openings is contracted by the deposition of
additional matter; till at length the great arteries
are compressed as by a ligature, and the circulation is effectually stopped. The velvet now dies
for want of the vital fluid; it shrivels, dries, and
peels off in shreds, the animal assisting in getting
rid of it by rubbing his antlers against the trees. They are now firm, hard, and white; and the stag bears them proudly, and brandishes them in de-
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