TRAGULW.K 3°5 



Bunodonl genus Homacodon of the Bridger Eocene, mentioned 

 among the Ccmothemdce. 



Tragulina. 

 Family Tragulid.e. 



Xo teeth in premaxillse. Upper canines well developed, especi- 

 ally in the males; narrow and pointed. Lower canines incisiform. 

 Xo caniniform premolars in either jaw, all the premolars except the 

 last in the upper jaw being secant. Molariform teeth in a con- 

 tinuous series, consisting of p %, m %. Odontoid process of axis 

 vertebra conical. Fibula complete. Four complete toes on each 

 foot. The middle metapodials generally confluent, the outer ones 

 (second and fifth) very slender but complete, i.e. extending from 

 the carpus or tarsus to the digit. Navicular, cuboid, and ectocunei- 

 form bones of tarsus united. Tympanic bullae of skull filled with 

 cancellar tissue. Xo frontal appendages. Eliminating, but the 

 stomach with only three distinct compartments, the maniplies or 

 third cavity of the stomach of the Pecora being rudimentary. 

 Placenta diffused. 



This section is represented only by the single family Tragulidce, 

 containing a few animals of small size, commonly known as 

 Chevrotains, intermediate in their structure between the Deer, the 

 Camels, and the Pigs. The large size of the canines of the male and 

 the absence of horns caused them to be associated formerly with 

 Moschus, one of the Cervidce ; hence they are often spoken of as 

 >; Pigmy Musk-Deer," although they have no musk-secreting gland, 

 or, except in the above-named trivial external characters, no special 

 affinities with the true Musk-Deer. There has scarcely been a more 

 troublesome and obdurate error in zoology than in this association 

 of animals so really distinct. It has been troublesome, not only in 

 preventing a just conception of the relations of existing Artiodac- 

 tyles, but also in causing great confusion and hindrance in palceonto- 

 logical researches among allied forms ; and most obdurate, inasmuch 

 as all that has been recently done in advancing our knowledge of 

 both groups has not succeeded in eradicating it, not only from 

 nearly every one of our zoological text-books, whether British or 

 Continental, but even from works of the highest scientific pre- 

 tensions. 



The family is now generally divided into two genera. 



Traguhis, 1 containing the smallest of the existing Ungulates, 

 animals having more of the general aspects and habits of some 

 Kodents, as the Agoutis, than of the rest of their own order. The 

 best -known species are T. javanicus, T. najm, T. stanleyanus, and 



1 Pallas, Spicikgia Zoologica, vol. xiii. p. l'7 (1779). 



20 



