June, 1903. A List of Mammals — Elliot. 207 



race, nor can I explain its appearance so far down the coast, when 

 all the examples taken in the mountains are referable to O. h. 

 calif ornicus ; unless it is confined to the coast in its dispersion. 

 Of this I have no knowledge, for this specimen was the only deer 

 taken in the lowlands. Although killed on the 4th of August, the 

 horns are dark and hard, as if the velvet had been shed for some 

 time, and the coat is that of autumn. 



Odocoileus hemionus californicus. 



Odocoileus hemionus californicus. (Caton.) Am. Nat., 1876, p. 464. 

 Elliot, Syn. N. Am. Mamm., 1901, p. 43. 



14 Specimens: 2$ Hanson Lagoon, Hanson Laguna Mountains; 

 3, Santa Eulalia, 2$, iS; 7, Vallecitos, 3^, 4$; 2, Parral, i$, i2; San 

 Pedro Martir Mountains. 



I refer all these specimens to this race. The majority are smaller 

 than the average O. hemionus, and they have a strongly defined 

 narrow line on the center of the tail above, which is the character- 

 istic distinction of the form described by Judge Caton. None of 

 the specimens are very old, though some of the bucks have fair- 

 sized horns, the largest having five points and a spread of 20 inches, 

 (510 millimeters). The horns while similar to those of the mule 

 deer differ slightly in the manner in which the branching of the 

 tines takes place. Two of the specimens from Santa Eulalia and 

 two from Parral are in the full summer coat, a peculiar yellowish 

 brown pelage that I have never seen in any of our Northern deer, 

 and all the specimens have a conspicuous black line running from 

 between the ears to the root of the tail. I do not know the form 

 described by Lydekker (Deer of all Lands, p. 276) as Mazama h. 

 peninsula and do not see that he gives any characters to separate it 

 from O. h. californicus, except its smaller size, and as he only had 

 skins of females and young males to judge by, he may, very natu- 

 rally, have been misled as to what might be the size of an adult male. 

 The tail, with a " narrow line " connecting the black dorsal band 

 with the black extremity, or in its absence replaced by " a broad 

 ring of pale, straw-colored hair," would answer in the former for the 

 O. h. californicus, and the latter possibly might do for O. 

 hemionus. The fourteen specimens collected by Mr. Heller repre- 

 sent all sizes, but as proven, by the skulls, this is entirely a matter of 

 age, and one or two of the older bucks are large animals, equalling 

 the average O. hemionus. 



