CEKVID.E 73 



Sambar (Marathi and Dekhani) ; Jarao (Nepali) ; Rusa (Malay). 



Typical locality Ceylon. 



Size typically large ; hair coarse and shaggy, the hairs on 

 tlie back not distinctly banded with differently coloured 

 rings ; general colour some shade of dark umber-brown, with 

 chestnut or whitish on the inner side of the buttocks, and 

 often on the under-parts ; chin generally white ; young 

 either more or less uniformly coloured, or faintly spotted on 

 the hind-quarters ; antlers (fig. 17) large, stout, and rugose, 

 with the Ijrow-tine generally long and making an acute angle 

 with the beam, and the front, or outer tine of the terminal 

 fork forming the continuation of the line of the beam when 

 there is any inequality in the length of the two tines ; the 

 space enclosed by the antlers of opposite sides more or less 

 V- or U-shaped, but the tips of the antlers frequently 

 inclined inwards ; pedicles of antlers short. 



Different views are entertained as to whether the various 

 modifications of the sambar type indicate distinct species, or 

 races of one variable species. All tlie forms in which the 

 front, or outer, tine of the terminal fork of the antlers forms 

 the continuation of the line of the beam, where there is any 

 inequality in the length of the two, are here regarded 

 as races of a single species ; but those in which the back, or 

 inner, tine is situated in the direct line of the beam arc 

 considered to represent a second species. Whether all the 

 local modifications of the first type are truly indigenous, and 

 therefore entitled to rank as subspecies, is doubtful. 



The distributional area includes the undulating, or hilly 

 wooded districts of a large portion of the Oriental region, 

 namely India, Ceylon, Assam, Burma, the Malay Peninsula, 

 Borneo, Siam, Hainan, Formosa, and the Philippines, and 

 extends northwards to Sze-chuan. 



The following is a provisional " key " to the better known 

 local races of this variable species : — 



A. Face longer ; shanks dark. 



a. Size very large, shoulder-height -reaching 54 

 inches ; terminal tines of antlers subequal, 

 or front one the shorter C. ii. unicolor. 



h. Size nearly equal to that of preceding ; hind 



terminal tine the shorter C. u. eqiiiniis, 



