RUMINANTIA—-CERVINAE—CERVUS VIRGINIANUS. 645 
The ears are long and broad ; the antero-superior edge nearly straight ; the posterior very 
convex on its inferior half, (the upper part nearly straight.) The greatest width of the ear, in 
its unflattened state, is about half the length of the anterior edge. The length from the notch 
is equal to the distance from the posterior part of the orbit to the muzzle; the total length of 
the cartilage is as long as the lower jaw, and about two-thirds the length of the head. The ear 
itself is very simple ; the lower half of the anterior edge is inflexed. The antitragus is a short, 
low ridge, running parallel with the lower edge of the ear ; above this is a second low ridge, 
nearly parallel with it and longer ; but these ridges are covered with long whitish hairs. Above 
the last mentioned ridge is a long shallow wrinkle, the salient portion in the concavity of the 
ear. The inside of the ear (its external surface) is naked, with scattered hairs, except on the 
two cartilaginous ridges and the margins ; the internal surface or convexity is covered with close 
short hairs, except near the tip, which is almost naked. 
The hoofs (see the accompanying plate) are narrow and long; the lower side scarcely more 
than half as broad as the internal face, and its external border very gently convex ; its length 
about three and a half times the breadth. In the hind foot, the disproportion is not quite so great 
as in the fore foot. On the outside of the hind leg, and about halfway between the heel and 
the tip of the hoofs, is a longitudinal, narrow, naked space, about as long as the bone is wide at 
the same place, (about 8 lines.) This is margined all round by a depressed tuft of long white 
hairs. On the inside of each hind leg, again, opposite the insertion of the tendo Achillis, is a 
large full bunch or tuft of long stiff hairs, the object of which may be to keep the legs from 
knocking together in running. 
The tail is long and bushy, the hairs longest laterally, which gives it a greatly depressed 
appearance. The vertebre are a little longer than the skull. 
In this male, the four nipples are distinctly visible in their place, as in the female. 
The prevailing color of the back and sides (except on the spots) is a light chestnut red; the 
buttocks, the lower part of the sides, side of the head, the outside of the limbs, and the sides 
and anterior surface of the neck to between the forelegs, of a pale cinnamon. ‘The under parts, 
from the belly to the tip of the tail, including the inside of the fore arm and thighs, are pure 
white to the roots. The inferior half of the inner surface of the limbs is a dirty whitish cinna- 
mon. As stated, the under surface of the tail is white, as also are the extreme edges. The 
hairs on the upper surface are dark brown or sooty at the base, with rusty tips. The white 
spots on the back and sides are quite symmetrically arranged. There is a row extending from 
the head to the tail, on each side of the spine, the two parallel, and separated by about the width 
of the neck. On the neck these spots are confluent with a continuous white line. There is a 
row of larger spots on each side, separating the red from the cinnamon portion, and between 
these are twenty-five or thirty irregularly placed spots, besides a cluster on the outside of the 
shoulder and thighs. 
The top of the head is like the back. The muzzle is of a fine pepper and salt color, or with a tinge 
of cinnamon. The lower part of the head is dull white, as is a spot above the eye. There is a_ 
black band encircling the end of the muzzle, crossing over the posterior portion of the nostrils, 
broadest on the upper jaw, narrower below. The space between this bar and the end of the 
snout is of a purer white than elsewhere on the head. The skin on the convex surface of the 
