MAMMALIA RUMTNANTIA. 273 



Wood, in ' Ann. of Nat. Hist.' xiv, p. 349, bases a new genus, Microchterus, 

 upon a damaged fossil skull and a fragment of lower jaw. They were dug 

 out of the fresh water deposits at Hordwell in Hampshire, along with relics 

 of Palseotherium, Alligator, and some other animals. The new genus ap- 

 proximates, from the character of the teeth, very closely to the Hyracothe- 

 rium, but its size could scarcely have exceeded that of the Hedgehog. The 

 specific name given is N. erlnacem. 



RUMINANTIA. 



Under tlie title of Cervus dimorphe Hodgson gives intelli- 

 gence of a Stag, regarded by him as a new species. (Ann. 

 Nat. Hist, xiv, p. 74.) 



He obtained it from the Saul-wood of Morung ; the animal might then 

 be two years old, and Hodgson kept it alive ; from the descriptive sketch it 

 was about three years. Antlers tolerably pale, smooth, and constructed 

 in general after the type of the axis, but the mid-branches more curved, 

 more divergent, and furnished with only a single shoot, directed forwards at 

 the basis. Lachrymal grooves small or of moderate size, and vertical ; in- 

 terdigital grooves ; ears expanded ; tail short ; stature and general aspect 

 that of a mean betwixt the axis and Rusas. Colour, when young, bright 

 fallow-red ; becoming with age blackish-brown, with blackish nape and 

 belly; a dark seam surrounds the muzzle, chin white, limbs pale. If 

 Hodgsou does not know to what group of Deer he should ascribe this 

 beast, the Reporter will withhold his judgment until more accurate and 

 comparative descriptions come to hand. 



Brandt has expressed the opinion that Cervus pygargus ought sooner to be 

 regarded as a particular species than as a variety of the ordinary Roe. (Bullet. 

 de 1'Acad. de Petersb. iii, p. 280.) He gives the following as distinctive 

 characters: (1) Cervus pygargits, statura C. Damse. Caput et corirua fere 

 ut in C. elapho (?) forniato. Coruua ima basi roseiformi f " inter se distautia, 

 dein extrorsum versa et augulo satis acuto recliuata, inde a medio fortiter 

 extrorsum arcuata, apicibus summis valde magisque quam parte media dis- 

 tautibus sursuin, partis apicalis interim facie autem subautrorsum directa 

 Labii superioris latera margine toto alba. Uiigulse latiores et breviores 

 quam in C. capreolo; cauda paulo longior. (2) Cervus capreolus, statura 

 Cervo Dama inferior. Coruua peculiaria, &c. Labii superioris margines latc- 

 ribus nigri ; cauda subnulla. 



C. pygargus. C. capreolus. 



From the muzzle to anus . 55" 3'" 46" 3'" 



Length of head . 13 3 11 3 



Length of horns . .130 10 3 



Distance of their summits . 12 3 36 



18 



