| OCR Text |
Show 186 MAMMALIA. · long cam· ne too th o n each side of the upper. jaw, which in the mmagl ea I. ssues f rom tl outh and finally in havmg a slender pero- lC m ' T . meus, whi. ch I· S no t .JrO Un d even in the Camel. hese ammals are remarkably light and elegant. . . M . moscmz i jie r us , L · '. Buff· Supp. VI, XXIX. .( The Musk.) Th1s . t 1 brated species and the Size of a Goat, has 1s the mos ce e ' . . scarceI y any t a'1i ' and is completely covered Wi·t h ha1Wrs so coarse an d b ri't tle that they might be t.e rmed spmes. . hat part1· cu 1a r 1y d1's t1'ngu1'shes it' however, IS the pouch Situated be f ore t h e prepu Ce Of the male which produces that. odoro.u s su b stance so we 11 known by the name of musk. . Th1s spec1. es appears to belong to that rugged and rocky r~g10~ from wh1ch descend most of the Asiatic rivers, and wh1ch 1s s~read out between Siberia, China and Thibet. Its habit~ are sohtary a~d nocturnal its timidity extreme. It is in Th1bet and Tunkm that it yie;ds the best musk; in the north, it is almost inodorous. The other Musks have no musk-pouch, and inhabit the warm parts of the eastern continent ;(1) they are the smallest and the most elegant of all the Ruminantia.(2) All the rest of the Ruminantia, the males at least, have two horns, that is to say, two prominences of the frontal bones which are not found in any other family of animals. In some, these prominences are covered with an elastic sheath composed as if with agglutinated hairs, which increases by layers and during life; the name of ho'rn is applied to the substance of this sheath, and the sheath itself is called the corne creuse. The prominence it envelopes grows with it, and never falls. Such are the horns of Oxen, Sheep, Goats and .!lntelopes. In others, the prominences are only covered with a hairy skin, continuous with that of the head; nor do the prominen· ces fall, those of the Giraffe excepted. . Finally, in the genus of the Stags, the prominences covered for a time with a hairy skin, similar to that on the rest of the (1) The Moscltus americanus established from Scba, is merely the young or the female of one of the Guiana. Deer. The same may be said of the M. delicatulu~ of Shaw, Schreb. 245, D. It is the fawn of an American Deer. (2) Mosckus pygmreus, Buff. Xfl, xiii.-Moscltus memina, Schrcb. CCXL, iii.Moachuajuvanicua, Buff. Supp. VI, xxx. RUMINANTIA. 187 head, have at their base a ring of bony tubercles, which, as they enlarge, compress and obliterate the vessels of that skin. It becomes dry and is thrown off; the bony prominences, being laid bare, at the expiration of a certain period separate from the cranium to which they were attached; they fall and the animal remains defenceless. Others, however, are re-produced generalJy larger than before, and destined to undergo the same fate. These horns, purely osseous, and subject to periodical changes, are styled antlers. CERvus, Lin. The Stags, consequently, are the only Ruminantia which have heads armed with antlers ; the females, however, the Rein-Deer alone excepted, are always without them. The substance of these antlers, when completely developed, is that of a dense bone without pores or sinus. Their figure varies greatly according to the species, and even in each; species at different ages. These animals are excessively fleet, live commonly in the forest, and feed on leaves, buds, grasses, &c. We distinguish in the first place those species whose antlers are either wholly or partially flattened, vlz. C. alces, L.; Ellc or Elend, in the north of Europe; Moose· Deer of the Americans; Original of the Canadians; Buff. Supp. VII, lxxx. (The Moose.) As large as a horse and sometimes larger ; stands very high ; the muzzle cartilaginous and inflated ; a sort of goitre, or pendulous swelling, variously shaped, under the throat; hair always very stiff and of a more or less deep ash-colour. The antlers, at first simple, (en dague,) and then divided into narrow slips, assume, in the fifth year, the form of a triangular blade, denticulated on the external edge and mounted on a pedicle. T'hey increase with age so as to weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and to have fourteen branches to each ho1·n. The Moose lives in small troops, and inhabits the marshy forests of the north of both con tin en ts. Its skin is valua· hie for various purposes. C. tarandus, L., Buff. Supp. III, xviii, bis. (The Rein-Deer.) Size of a Stag, but has shorter and stouter legs; both sexes have antlers, divided into several branches, at fh·st slender and pointed, and terminating by age in broad denticulated palms; the hair, which is brown in summer, becomes white in winter.( 1) I' (l) It is probably owing to this change that the ancients were in.duced to be· Jeve that the tarandus could assume any colour it wished. |
