496 MAMMALIA OF INDIA. | e 
form. Dr. Gray’s classification was based on three forms of antlers 
and the shape of the tail. But Sir Victor Brooke’s is founded on more 
reliable osteological details. As I before stated in my introductory 
remarks on the Ruminantia, the first and fourth digits, there being no 
thumb, are but rudimentary, the metacarpal bones being reduced to 
mere splints ; the digital phalanges are always in the same place, and 
bear the little false hoofs, which are situated behind and a little above 
the large centre ones, but the metacarpal splint is not always in the 
same place; it may either be annexed to the phalanges, or widely 
separated from them and placed directly under the carpus. The 
position of these splints is an important factor in the classification of 
the Cervide into two divisions, distinguished by Sir Victor Brooke as 
the Plesiometacarpads, in which the splint is near the carpus, and the 
Telemetacarpals, in which the splint is far from the carpus, and articu- 
lated with the digital phalanges. All the known species of deer can be 
classified under these two heads; and it is a significant fact that this 
pedal division is borne out by certain cranial peculiarities discovered by 
Professor Garrod, and also, to a certain extent, by an arrangement of 
hair-tufts on the tarsus and metatarsus. In the Old World deer, which 
are with few exceptions /Vesiometacarpi, those which have these tufts 
have them above the middle of the metatarsus, and those of the New 
World, which are, with one exception, Ze/emetacarpfi, have them, when 
present, below the middle of the metatarsus. 
There is also another character in addition to the cranial one before 
alluded to, which was also noticed by Professor Garrod. ‘The first 
cranial peculiarity is that in Ze/emetacarpi, as a rule, the vertical plate 
developed from the lower surface of the vomer is prolonged sufficiently 
downwards and backwards to become anchylosed to the horizontal 
plate of the palatals, forming a septum completely dividing the nasal 
cavity into two chambers. In the /Plescometacarpi this vertical plate is 
not sufficiently developed to reach the horizontal plate of the palatals. 
The second cranial peculiarity is that in the Old World deer 
(Plesiometacarpi), the ascending rami of the premaxillze articulate with 
the nasals with one or two exceptions, whereas in the New World deer 
(Telemetacarpi), with one or two exceptions, the rami of the premaxillae 
do not reach the nasals. It will thus be seen that the osteological 
characters of the head and feet agree in a singularly fortunate manner, 
and, when taken in connection with the external signs afforded by the 
metatarsal tufts, prove conclusively the value of the system. In India 
we have to deal exclusively with the Plestometacarpfi, our nearest 
members of the other division being the Chinese water-deer (Hydropotes 
inermis), and probably Capreolus pygargus from Yarkand, the horns of a 
roebuck in velvet attached to a strip of skin having been brought down 
by the Mission to that country in 1873-74. 
