Bokhara Deer 227 



xix. of the 'Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. In the case ot C. cash- 

 mirianus the crown of the antler is multicuspid ; in C icallachi, even when 

 fully adult, it has never more than a simple fork at the summit. More- 

 over, in all the heads of C yarcandensis mentioned by Mr. Blantord, which 

 are numerous and perfectly alike, there are only five tines to each antler ; 

 namely, two basal tines (the brow and the bez), a median (royal) tine, 

 and a terminal bifurcation. Finally, the vertical and nearly parallel dila- 

 tation of the two prongs of this terminal fork indicates the definite and 

 complete type of crown characteristic ot the species. The terminal con- 

 vergence and lateral expansion ot the antlers is less in C yarcandensis, but 

 Hodgson informs us that this character is variable in C. ival/ichi, and that 

 the curvature of the antlers is subject to individual variation, as indeed is 

 the length of the interval between the tips of those ot opposite sides. It 

 must, however, be admitted that in the Yarkand stag the beam of the 

 antler is less bent forward ; this being the sole point ot distinction from 

 the antlers of the shou." 



THE BOKHARA DEER 



{Cerviis hactrianus) 



This very impertectly known member of the red deer group was named 

 by the present writer ^ in 1900 on the evidence of a stag (figured on page 109 

 oi Deer of All Lands) recently living in the Zoological Gardens at Moscow, 

 of which a pair ot shed antlers are preserved in the museum at Woburn 

 Abbey. These antlers form the actual type of the species. The stag in 

 question was reported to have come from Turkestan. It has a large straw- 

 coloured rump-patch, and its general colour is said to be grey at all seasons. 



^ Annali and Magazine of Natural History, scr. 7, vol. v. p. 196 (1900). 



