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Show 352 DR. E. LONNBERG ON THE [Dec. 2, The following papers were read :- 1. On the Variation of the Elk (Alces alces). By Dr. E in a r Lonnberg, C.M.Z.S. [Received November 4, 1902.] (With Text-figures 68-76.) In Sweden it is not uncommon to hear professional elk-hunters talk of " two kinds of Elk," distinguished as follows:-The one is dark blackish-brown in colour, short-legged, and provided with broadly palmated antlers. It is also said to be less shy and more apt to " make a stand " against dogs when hunted than the other, and, as a rule, is fatter and more fleshy. The second is said to be a longer-legged and more slenderly built animal, of a lighter colour, more especially on the legs, which are described as almost whitish. It is usually more shy, and thus more difficult to approach with dogs when hunted. The antlers are deeply cleft, with little or no palmation, and end in long rounded tines. In some districts hunters distinguish these two forms by distinct names, as, for instance, " grass-elk " and " mountain-elk, " and report that they frequent different localities ; but the statements on this point are rather vague and contradictory, and it is questionable to how much reliance they are entitled. To some extent, at any rate, the above-mentioned variations may be due to difference of age-an old bull, for instance, being more apt to resist dogs than a younger animal. The difference in colour might also be attributed to the same cause; and the statements about longer or shorter legs are of no value unless supported by exact measurements, a fat and bulky individual appearing shorter-legged than a more slender animal with limbs of the same length. Sportsmen, on the other hand,who concentrate their interest on the trophies they carry home, devote special attention to the antlers; and it has accordingly become a custom among them to speak about " cervine " as opposed to " palmate " antlers in Elk. Antlers of both types, as well as intermediate forms, have been shown at several exhibitions, and may also be seen in private collections in Sweden. In the Baltic Provinces especially, sportsmen have noticed the variation of Elk, and in the ‘ Baltische Waldmannsblatter ' for 1901 the question has been raised whether there are one or two kinds (" races " or " species " ) of Elk in these countries ; some writers maintaining that there are certainly two forms--the one with broad shovels (palmations) to the antlers, the other without palmation to these appendages, which terminate in long simple tines. The Elk with palmated antlers is said to be somewhat earlier in rutting and cleaning and shedding its antlers than the other. Some sportsmen believe that the non-palmated Elk has immigrated from the north-east into Estland and Livonia; others, however, deny the immigration theory, and consider the |