282 



DEERLETS 



Fam. 4. Tragulidae. This family comprises a number of 

 small Deer-like animals, which are really in many points more 

 related to the Pigs than to the true Deer. They are known as 

 Chevrotains ; and the term " Deerlet," introduced by Professor 

 Garrod, is certainly appropriate, since they have the aspect of 

 very small and hornless Deer. If it were not for their Artio- 

 dactyle feet one might at a glance confuse these creatures with 

 some Marsupial type. The family is Oriental and West African 

 in range. The two genera (whose individual peculiarities will 



FIG. 147. Indian Chevrotaiu. Tragulus tneminna. x ^. 



be considered later) differ from other Artiodactyles in a number 

 of rather important characters. 



They are absolutely hornless in both sexes. The canines are 

 present in both jaws, and are especially well developed in the 

 upper jaw. The dental formula is I C ^- Pm M . In the 

 skull the tympanic bulla is usually, as in the non-ruminating 

 Artiodactyles, filled with loose bony tissue. The feet (usually) have 

 the four toes of the Suina, and are therefore in a more primi- 

 tive condition than in Deer and Antelopes. But as the middle 

 metacarpals are fused in Tragulus (though separate in Hyomoschus) 

 they are a stage further than are the Pigs, in the direction of the 

 typical Ruminants. 



The stomach is comparatively simple, thus offering inter- 



