Japanese Sika 229 



be said with regard to the real affinities of any of these deer till other 

 specimens are available for comparison. 



Possibly Cerviis hactriamis^ if rightly separated trom the wapiti group, 

 will turn out to be closely allied to C. yarcandensis^ although, so far as 

 our present information goes, it appears to be distinguished by its colour 

 being uniformly light grey at all seasons, whereas the Yarkand deer, 

 during at least some portion of the year, is said to be light fawn. It 

 must, however, be remembered that M. Pousargues bases his description 

 of the colour of the latter on Museum specimens, which may have 

 faded. In the type of C bactr'ianiis the antlers appear to have a more 

 forward shou-like bend than is ordinarily the case in (.'. yivcandcnsis. 

 Unfortunately the figure of the Moscow specimen does not show whether 

 the inner sides of the thighs are white. 



THE JAPANESE SIKA 



[Ccrvus s/ca) 



The common sika, of which the smaller race is an inhabitant ot the 

 islands of Japan, while the larger Manchurian form is found on the adjacent 

 mainland, is the typical representative of a small but perfectly well defined 

 group of deer, which, at the present day, are restricted to that portion of 

 Eastern Asia lying between Manchuria and Japan on the north and the 

 island of Formosa in the south. As a rule, they are considerably inferior 

 in point of size to the members of the red deer group. Their antlers are 

 of the same general type as in the latter, but invariably lack the bez-tine, 

 and normally do not carry more than five points a side. But the sikas are 

 perhaps best distinguished by the presence of a pure white patch on the 

 buttocks, which includes the sides of the tail, and the long hairs of which 

 are capable of a fan-like eversion under the influence of excitement or 



