A New Deer from Texas and Northern Mexico. 25 



approaching within 70 mm. of each other. The total expanse of the horns 

 is 330 mm. ; the circumference of beam, at base, 80 mm. 



Measurements of type. Length, measured from end of muzzle to end of 

 last caudal vertebra, 1585 mm. ; tail vertebrae, 265 (to end of hairs 345) ; 

 ear from crown, 160 ; ear from base of opening, 140 ; girth of chest, 800 ; 

 from tip of nose to angle of mouth, 90; to eye, 152; to center of pupil, 

 170 ; to base of ear, 225 ; to base of horn, 220 ; to occiput, 280 ; diameter 

 of eye, 26 ; fore limb, from coracoid process of scapula to end of hoof, 

 700; from olecranon, 575; length of manus, 325; hind limb, from knee- 

 joint to end of hoof, 625 ; length of pes, 430 ; height of animal at shoulder, 

 880; height at hips, 900; from great trochanter to coracoid, 710. 



Cranial and dental characters. The skull is narrow, with elongate nasals. 

 That of the type, an old male in which the permanent premolars are con 

 siderably worn, presents the following measurements : basilar length 

 (basion to front of premaxillary), 244 mm.; zygomatic breadth (across 

 middle of orbits), 114; occipito-nasal length, 208; least interorbital 

 breadth, 71 ; greatest length of nasals, 81 ; greatest breadth of nasals, 31 ; 

 least breadth of nasals, 18.5; greatest diameter of orbit, 38 ; length of 

 upper lateral tooth-row, 24. The skull of an old female (No. 4290, author's 

 collection) presents these dimensions : basilar length, 241 mm. ; zygo 

 matic breadth, 96; greatest length of nasals, 81; greatest breadth of 

 nasals, 26 ; greatest diameter of orbit, 35. In the type specimen the 

 nasal and premaxillary bones are separated by a space of 10 mm., which 

 is occupied by a forward arm of the maxillary. In a young male (No. 

 4289, author's collection), having three points and a basal snag to each 

 horn, the nasal and premaxillary bones barely meet. In an old female 

 (No. 4290, author's collection) and a yearling female (No. 4291, author's 

 collection), the premaxillaries articulate broadly with the nasals. 



Remarks. Numerous skins of this deer from Texas, and Mexico south 

 to San Luis Potosi, have been examined and found to agree in size and 

 coloration with those above described. The horns vary within ordinary 

 limits; but those of the type represent the usual size and form, except 

 that there is more often but one basal snag. The bucks weigh in the 

 neighborhood of 100 pounds, and the does about 75 pounds. 



While the Texan deer differs sufficiently from the white-tailed deer of 

 southern Mexico and Central America, as well as from the forms recog 

 nized in the United States, to warrant its separation, the available mate 

 rial is insufficient to furnish a reliable indication as to its intergradation 

 with them. Therefore, for the present, it is proper to regard it as a species. 



Comparisons. The type locality of Dorcelaphus americanus (Erxleben) 

 was given as Virginia and Carolina. Compared with specimens from 

 that general region, D. texanus is found to differ in being much smaller 

 and paler, with actually as well as relatively heavier dentition. Between 

 the ranges of these two, a very different form is interposed in the low 

 lands of Louisiana. 



The Floridan deer, Dorcelaphus osceola (Bangs) is even darker in color 

 than D. americanus. Compared with the present form, it is larger, with 



