DEEP-WATER SCUL'PIN. See SEA-II.1VEN. DEEP-WATER TROUT. See SQUETEAGUE. DEEP-WATER WHITING. See WHITING.
DEER (AS. wild beast, animal, Ger. 7'hicr, animal, Goth. dins, wild beast; cf. AS. door, bold, OHG. florin', wild). The popular name for even-toed, hoofed mammals of the fam ily Cervidme and subfamily Cervinme. The musk (q.v.), usually called musk-deer, forms a dis tinct subfamily, which is sometimes accorded full family rank. More than fifty species of deer are known, occurring in all parts of the world except Australia and southern Africa. South eastern Asia especially abounds with them, some of the largest as well as ninny of the smallest residing there. Only two species of deer dwell in the whole continent of Africa, and both of these are near relatives of European species and occur only in the northern parts of the continent. In North America there are perhaps eight or ten species of deer, while Central and South America possess a much larger number.
Deer are characterized by the absence of a gall. bladder and the possession of tipper canines, lat eral digits on both fore and hind feet, a remark able suborbital sinus or tear-pit below each eye.
and antlers. Antlers are the most noticeable of these characters, though they are usually present only in the male. The female reindeer has ant lers and individual females of other species some times have small ones. Antlers (q.v.) are out growths of bone, which are covered with a thin, highly vascular hairy skin during their growth, but when this is completed the blood-supply is cut off, and the skin, or 'velvet,' as it is called, dries up and is peeled off, leaving the bone bare. Antlers are renewed annually, the fully- formed pair becoming detached from the 'pedieels• on which they were developed, and a new pair aris ing at the same place. Antlers arc usually shed Soon after the close of the breeding season. An antler may be straight and unbranehed, but there are branches, called tines or The number of these increases with age, so that the most handsomely developed antlers are found only on fully matured males. The antler and its branches are generally more or less cylindrical or terete, but in some cases they are very much expanded and flattened, and the miller is then called 'pa Ima-ted.'
Deer are animals of very graceful form, com bining compactness and strength with slenderness of limb and fleetness. They have for many cen turies been renowned as objects of the chase, and the flesh of many species is highly esteemed for food, under the name 'venison.' The best-known species, which may serve as an example of the group, is the European red deer claphus), the adult male of which is the 'stag,' and the female is the 'hind.' Che former is some times nearly seven feet long and over four feet in height, but the hind is much smaller. The body is covered by a double coat of fine wool and longer, coarse hairs, the latter longest on throat and chest. The wool is brownish-gray, and as it. is longest and most abundant in winter, the sum mer coat is brighter-colored and smoother. The young are spotted with white. The antlers are at first nil ranched and only show' the number of tines characteristic of the adult in the fifth year, and it is not until then that the young male is dignified with the name slag. An old stag is called a 'hart.' The hinds and young stags are usually found together in large herds, but the older stags occur in smaller groups, while harts are generally found alone. The feeding tins- is during the evening and at night. The food varies with the season: in winter it is chiefly lichens, moss, bark, and buds, while in summer leaves and herbs form most of the diet. Stags are said to eat only fungi during the breeding season. The red deer occurs in all parts of Europe and in northern and western Asia. it is exterminated as a wild animal in populous districts, but is preserved as an object of the chase. or as a domesticated pet, in all parts of western Europe, though not so common in Great Prit a in as the fallow deer. It is exceptionally swift of foot and an excellent swimmer, and all of the senses are marvelously acute. The hinds and fawns are gentle and can be tamed as pets, but the stags are untrustworthy and become quite dangerous during the breeding, sea son.