walls, and when he has taken them down and been examining them he may have noticed
how exceedingly greasy or oily to
the touch this or that head has felt.
Now this is nothing but the horns
“ sweating ” as it were, and the oily
matter forcing its way through the
outer coating to the surface.
Now for a rum story, which,
however, is perfectly true. One day
my old friend Mr. J. E. Harting was
talking to Captain Marriott (he that
was recently collared by the brigands
close to Smyrna) about curiosities o f
natural history, when the gallant
captain mentioned the fact that in
the mess o f the 9 th Norfolk Regiment
at Aldershot there was the
head o f a Burmese stag (Cervus eldi)
from the horns o f which drops o f
blood had been falling steadily at
intervals for the last seven or eight
years. This was sufficiently extraordinary
to warrant an inspection,
so Mr. Harting went down and saw
the head hanging up in the mess-room. On close
inspection there was a drop o f what looked like blood
ready to fall from a crack or small hole just underneath
one o f the brow points. A plate had always been kept
under the head for years which caught the drops as they
fell at intervals. Mr. Harting had at first expected that
some joke was going on, so had rather laughed at the
whole affair, but here the exudation was taking place under
his eyes, and continues even unto this day, unless the head
has been removed. M y friend very wisely caught the
drop in a small bottle and took it to Professor Stewart at
the Royal College o f Surgeons, who microscopically examined
it, afterwards reporting that the exudation was not
blood but a dark mixture like it composed o f mucus and
.grease.
When the velvet begins to strip off the completed antler
it leaves on the surface o f the horn a small amount o f
gelatinous moisture which is ready to take on colour after
some days’ exposure to the sun and air. The idea that the animal goes out o f his way to