RUMINANTIA—CERVINAE—CERVUS. 637 
CERVUS, Linn. 
Nose tapering, ending ina naked moist muffle; tail usually well developed. Rather long false hoofs. Fawns, and some- 
times the adults, spotted. Fur shorter and fulyous in summer, longer and grayer in winter. Skulls with a mode ate nose 
cavity, and the intermaxillaries reaching to, or nearly to, the nasal bones.' 
The preceding diagnosis, taken from J. E. Gray, embraces the peculiarities of what he calls 
the deer of the temperate or warm regions, as distinguished from the arctic deer, as Alce and 
Rangifer, in which the nose is very broad at the end, and entirely covered with hair; the tail 
short, the horns palmated ; the fawns not spotted, but uniformly colored like the adults; the 
skull with a large nose cavity, and the intermaxillaries not reaching the nasal. 
The deer of the temperate regions again are divided by Dr. Gray as follows : 
1. The Hlaphine deer, with a distinct anterior basal snag to the horns; the muffle broad, 
and separated from the lip by a hairy band; the tuft of hair on the outside of the hind leg, 
above the middle of the metatarsus. Sub-genera Cervus, Dama. 
2. Rusine deer, with a distinct anterior basal snag to the horns ; the muffle very high, and not 
separated from the edge of the lip; the tuft of hair on the outside of the hind leg, above the 
middle of the metatarsus. Sub-genera Rucervus, Panolia, Rusa, Axis, Hyelaphus, Cervulus. 
3. Capreoline deer, without any basal snag to the horn, the first branch being some distance 
above the burr; the sub-orbital crumen (and pit in the skull) generally small. Sub-genera 
Capreolus, Cariacus, Blastocerus, Furcifer, Coassus. 
All the North American deer belong to the sub-genus Cariacus of the third group, with the 
exception of the elk, which is a typical Cervus in the first section. 
As already remarked, I shall not attempt to divide the North American deer with naked 
mufiles, but throw them all in the same genus—Cervus. There are, however, three very dis- 
tinct sections, which may be indicated as follows: 
Section A. Size very large. Horns large, curving backwards, with the snags all directed 
forward, one of them immediately above the burr. ‘Tail very short, the base surrounded by 
a pale patch. Naked muzzle, separated from the naked edge of the upper lip by hair, but 
connected with it by a narrow naked isthmus; no naked glandular space on the metatarsus. 
Hoofs broad and rounded. Cervus canadensis. 
Section B. Muzzle broadly naked entirely to the edge of the upper lip. Tail long. A 
narrow short naked glandular space on the outer side of the metatarsus. Hoofs rather elongate. 
Horns smaller, curving forwards, with the first snag short, some distance from the base, directed 
upwards. All the other branches proceeding from the posterior edge of the main stem, and 
directed upwards. Cervus virginianus, leucurus, mexicanus. 
Section C’. Muzzle, hoofs, and tail in general, as in the preceding. Naked glandular space 
on the outside of the metatarsus longer. Horns with the lowest snag as in the preceding 
section, but smaller, sometimes wanting ; main stem forking almost equally about the middle, 
each fork dividing again nearly equally at about its middle; in other words, the horns are 
doubly dichotomous. Cervus macrotis, columbianus. 
? Gray, 1. Soc. Lond. 1850, 226. 
