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Show 108 DR. C A. CANFIELD ON THE PRONGBUCK. [Feb. 27, protuberances began to be tipped with a point of horn once more, that grew from the base, and increased in size for a year. They dropped off in January, I think, being about 5 inches long, slightly curved inwards at the tips, cylindrical, and the substance of the horn hard and well developed. The knobs that remained were about 1| inch long, slightly hairy, as before, and nearly concealed in the long hair that grows around the base of the horns at that time of the year. Sharp points immediately began to form as before; the knobs changed from a rounded form to an oval outline, longer from before backward ; and, directly, another protuberance began to be developed at the base of each horn, in front; and each of these at length became tipped also with horn. These were the anterior prongs, not as yet connected with main horn, but which very soon became consolidated. This was the condition of the animal's horns in October 1857, or when he was two years and a half old. They were about 9 inches long, measuring in a straight line from the frontal bone to the extreme curve of the points. At that time he received a kick from a mule, that broke one of his fore legs. I splinted and bandaged the leg, and he ran about with it so for more than three months, when he was killed, I suppose, by a pack of wolves. It was a great pity that he did not live two or three years longer, so as to have made further observations on the growth of his horns. But I think that the phenomena exhibited by his horns while he did live, and those exhibited by other Antelopes, have furnished me with data sufficient to establish the proposition that I now make, viz. that their horns drop off annually ! When I began to be acquainted with the Prong-horned Antelope, I believed (as you and all the scientific world do) that they have permanent horns like goats and sheep ; but after knowing them a year or two I became convinced that they shed their horns every year! And to convince you of this singular fact is m y principal object in making you this communication. As the buck grows older his horns change their form, until, the second time of shedding them, they are cylindrical and slightly curved inward at the tips. After the prong appears, the points of the horns become more and more incurved, until in the oldest bucks they are remarkably hooked, some of them almost as much so as a fish-hook, and very sharp and hard. In the months of December and January I have never killed a buck with large horns ; and at that time of the year all the bucks appear to be young ones, because their horns are so small; whereas in the spring and summer months almost all the bucks appear to be old ones, for their horns are large and noticeable. Another proof of m y proposition is the following:-In the summer months I have noticed that the line of demarcation is very apparent and abrupt between the horn and the skin from which it grows, but that in the winter there is no demarcation, the horn being very soft at its base, passing insensibly into cuticular tissue, and the soft horny substance being covered thinly with hair. The horns of Antelopes are very loosely set on the medullary base, and are susceptible of considerable movement in all directions. So ' loose,' apparently, have I seen them, that it |
