VOL. XII, PP. 23-26 JANUARY 27, 1898 



PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW DEER (DORCELAPHUS 

 TEXANUS) FROM TEXAS AND NORTHERN MEXICO. 



BY EDGAR A. MEARNS. 



The small white-tailed deer of Texas differs so materially in 

 size, proportions, coloration, and cranial characters from the other 

 members of the Dorcelaphus americanus* group as to necessitate 

 its separation. It may be known by the following description : 



Dorcelaphus texanus new species. Texan Deer. 



Type from Fort Clark, Kinney County, Texas. No. 4288, author's col 

 lection.! Adult male. Collected December 25, 1897, by Dr. Edgar A. 

 Mearns. 



General characters. Size small; ears relatively small, with black on 

 edges and tip ; horns small and strongly incurved ; limbs relatively short ; 

 molar and premolar teeth very large; general color pale; coat fine and 

 long. 



*In the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, vol. X, 

 February, 1896, page 25, Mr. Outram Bangs reverted to the specific name 

 americanus with the following remark : " The name Cervus virginianus 

 Boddaert is so well known and has stood for our eastern deer so long that 

 it seems like sacrilege to change it, but it is antedated by seven years by 

 Erxleben's name Cervus dama americana. Erxleben proposed this name 

 on page 312 of his Syst. Regni Animalis, Mammalia, 1777. In a separate 

 paragraph at the end of his article on Cervus dama he asks if americanus 

 is different, as supposed by Pennant (Differtne vere americanus vti Pen. 

 nanto videtur ?). He quotes a part of Pennant's description and gives 

 synonomy , so that the name will have to stand. He gives its distribution 

 as Virginia and Carolina." 



t The type and other specimens collected will be placed, as soon as pos 

 sible, in the collection of the U. S. National Museum, at Washington, D. C. 



5 BIOL. Soc. WASH., VOL. XII, 1898 (23) 



