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Show 256 SEXUAl, SELECTION: l\1Al\il\iALS. PART II. American Journal 23 says, that ho bas hunted for the last twenty-one years in the Adirondacks, where tho Oervus Vir,qinianus abounds. Aboutr fourteen years ~go he first heard of sp1'l~e-horn, bucks. These became fi om year to year more common; about five years ago he shot one, and subsequently another, and ~ow they arc ft·equently killed. "The spike-horn ?I~er.s greatly " from the common antler of the 0. v~~rg~manus. It " consists of a single spike, more slender than the antler, " and scarcely half so long, projecting fon~ard from .the "brow and terminating in a very sharp pomt. It gtves "a co~siderable advantage to its possessor over the "eommon buck. Besides enabling him to run more "swiftly through the thick woods and n~derbrush " (every hunter knows that does and yearlmg bucks "run much more rapidly than the large buc~\:S when "armed with their cumbrous antlers), the spke-horn "is a more effective weapon than the common a~t~er. "With this advantage the spike-horn b~ck~ are ga1~:nng "upon the common bucks, and may, m t1mc, entuely ,, supersede them in the Adirondacks. Undo~btedly "the first spike-horn buck was merely an acCl~ental "freak of nature. But his spike-horns gave lnm an "advantage, and enabled him t? propa?ate his pecu" liarity. His descendants, havmg a like advantage, "have propagated the peculiarity in a co~stantly "increasinO' ratio till they are slowly crowdmg the "antlered deer fr~m the region they inhabit." Male quadrupeds which are .furnished with tusks use them in various ways, as m the case of horns. The boar strikes laterally and upwards ; the muskdeer with serious effect downwards?~ The walrus, 2a 'The American Nntumlist,' Dec. 1869, p. 552. 2' Pallns, ' Spicilegia Zoologica,' fasc. xiii. 1779, p. 18. CIIAP. XVli. LAW OF BATTLE. 257 ~,hough h~ving .so short a neck and so unwieldy a body, can stnke mther upwardR, or down wards, or side" ways, with equal dexterity." 25 Tho Indian elephant fights, as I was informed by the late Dr. Falconer in a dif.le~·ent manner according to the position anrl curv~ture of h1s tusks. When they are directed forwards and ~'p.warc~ he is able to fling a tiger to a great distanceIt Is Ratd to even thirty feet; when they are short and t~rned downwards he endeavours suddenly to pin the tiger to the ground, and in consequence is dancrerous to the rider, who is liable to be jerked off bthe hoodah.26 . Y_ ery fe.w male quadrupeds possess weapons of two d1stmct lnnds specially adapted for fiabtincr with rival males. The male rnuutjac-deer (Oe~vulu~, however, offers an exception, as he is provided with horns and exserted canine teeth. But one form of weapon, has often been replaced in the course of ages by another form, as we may infer from what follows. With ru~ ninants the development of horns generally stand::; m an inverse relation with that of even moderately well-dev~loped canine teeth. Thus camels, guanacoes, chevrotam.s and ~usk-deer, are hornless, and they hare effiCient canmes; these teeth beincr ''always of " sma 11 er SI.Z e m. t I1 0 1i' emales than in the bm ales." The Camclidre have in their upper jaws, in addition to their true canines, a pair of canine-shaped incisors.27 Male door and antelopes, on the other hand, possess horns, and they rarely have canine teeth; and these \\'hen present are always of small size, so that it is ~: Lamont,' Seasons with the Sea-Horses,' 1861, p. Hl. · . co ~lso Corse ('Philosoph. Transact.' 1799, p. 212) on the mnnner lll whwh the short-tusked Mookuah variety of toe elephaut attack::; other elephants. "' Owen,' Anatomy of Vertebrates,' vo1. iii. p. 349. VOL. If. s |