THE WAPITI OF KANSU 205 



is not identical with that of Ccrvus qffinis. 1 do 

 not tliink it safe on the evidence of one skin to 

 trust much to the greater uniformity of the colour 

 of the body as shown by the absence of a distinct 

 darkening of the back and of the sides to which 

 Hodgson refers in Cervus qffinis {i.e. the Shou), but 

 the large size of the dark croup patch and the smaller 

 extent of white at the base of the tail are probably 

 more dependable. It is in both these particulars 

 especially that the Kansu stag resembles the 

 Szechuen stag Cervus macneilli. Since, however, 

 it differs from the latter in general coloration and 

 in the greater amount of white in the tail ; from 

 Cervus affinis in having no wliite above the root 

 of the tail and a larger dark area on the croup ; 

 from Cervus wallichii in having no white on the 

 croup at all, except such as is concealed by the 

 overlying ends to the hairs ; and from Cei^vus 

 hanglu in the dark colour of the chin and upper 

 lip, the Kansu stag seems to deserv^e a name, and 

 I propose to call it Cervics kansuensis.'' 



In the Field, October 26th, 1912, Mr. Lydekker 

 wrote as follows : 



*' Apart from the matter of locality, the speckled 

 brown coat of these stags is of itself quite sufficient 

 to show that they belong to C. kansuensis. In 

 describing the hind referred to, Mr. Pocock con- 

 sidered that it represented a species near akin to 

 one which I described in 1909 from Szechuan (also 

 from the skin of a hind) as a local race of the 

 Kashmir hangul under the name of C. cashmirianus 

 macneilli, but raised by Mr. Pocock — and, from the 

 evidence of Mr. Fenwick-O wen's specimen, I think 

 rightly — to the rank of a species. For the antlers 

 of the Kansu deer are very unlike those of the 

 hangul, and approximate in a considerable degree 



