The Descent of Man

ned. Nor is it probable that she can have inherited
horns from some ancient progenitor of the
family of deer, for, from the fact of the females
of so many species in all quarters of the globe
not having horns, we may conclude that this
was the primordial character of the group. (8.
On the structure and shedding of the horns of
the reindeer, Hoffberg, 'Amoenitates Acad.' vol.
iv. 1788, p. 149. See Richardson, 'Fauna Bor.
Americana,' p. 241, in regard to the American
variety or species: also Major W. Ross King,
'The Sportsman in Canada,' 1866, p. 80.
The horns of the reindeer are developed at a
most unusually early age; but what the cause of
this may be is not known. The effect has apparently
been the transference of the horns to
both sexes. We should bear in mind that horns
are always transmitted through the female, and
that she has a latent capacity for their development,
as we see in old or diseased females.
(9. Isidore Geoffroy St.-Hilaire, 'Essais de Zoo-