62 Game of Europe, W. & N. Asia & America 



is a synonym of asiatica ; and for these stags the proper title will conse- 

 quently be Cci-vus asiatiais, if they are regarded as a distinct species, or 

 C. canadensis asiaticiis, if they are considered merely as a local race of the 

 wapiti. 



On the other hand, Ccrvus songarkus (taking its name from Dzungaria, 

 the district of the southern Altai lying between Kuldja in the south and 

 Tarbagatai in the north) is the earliest title for the Thian Shan wapiti — 

 the C. eustcpluuius of Mr. Blanford. Hence, assuming the deer to be dis- 

 tinct from Severtzoff's asiaticus of the northern Altai and Siberia, and it it 

 be regarded as a local race rather than a species, its proper title will be C. 

 canadensis songaricuw It may be added that there can be no doubt as to the 

 identity of the deer obtained by Messrs. Church and Phelps at Tarbagatai 

 in the northern Altai with the typical songaricus, or eustcphanus^ of the 

 Thian Shan.^ 



So fcir as comparisons from living animals can be made, it appears that 

 the Thian Shan wapiti is a somewhat smaller and shorter-legged deer than 

 either form of its American relatives, with relatively larger antlers. In 

 T)eer of All Lands the antlers are stated to be absolutely longer; but that is 

 not borne out by subsequent experience, the longest antlers recorded by Mr. 

 Rowland Ward measuring K^K^ inches along the curve, while the length ot 

 the pair shown on page 63, which are the finest obtained by Mr. Church, is 

 54 inches. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind, that of American 

 wapiti heads in this country only a comparatively small number exceed these 

 dimensions, and as it is improbable that the Asiatic specimens hitherto 

 brought to England are the largest of their kind, it is not unlikely that dimen- 

 sions closely rivalling the largest American may occasionally be obtained. 



Be this as it may, it is certain that the Thian Shan wapiti is remarkable 

 for the proportionately large size of its antlers, and is thus one of the 

 very finest of all living deer. 



' Sec Blantord, Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1 900, p. 775. 



