fiance of his rivals. From the burr upwards these
antlers are now no longer part and parcel of the
system, they are extraneous, and held only by
their mechanical continuity with the footstalk on
which they were placed; hence their deciduous
character; for it is a vital law that the system
shall throw off all parts no longer intrinsically
entering into the integrity of the whole. An absorptive process soon begins to take place just
beneath the burr, removing particle after particle,
till at length the antlers are separated and fall by
their own weight, or by the slightest touch, leaving the living end of the footstalk exposed, and
slightly bleeding. This is immediately covered with a pellicle of skin, which soon thickens, and all is well. The return of spring brings with it a renewal of the whole process with renewed energy, and a finer pair of antlers branches forth." [1]
In the Muntjaks (Styloceros), a genus inhabiting the Indian islands, the peduncles on which the horns are placed, are greatly lengthened, and in the Giraffe, which seems to belong to this Family, these peduncles alone remain, surmounted by a tuft of hair. By these we are conducted to the verge of the following group, where the horns are permanent.
Family IV. Capradæ.
(Goats, &c.)
Although between an Ox and a Goat or Sheep, there seems at first sight a sufficiently obvious
- ↑ Pict. Museum, i. 130,
