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



THE YUCATAN WHITETAIL 



(^Mazama anicricana toltecii) 



With this forni we reach the first of a number of small deer inhabiting 

 the south of Mexico, Central America, and the northern states of South 

 America, which may apparently be regarded as degraded representatives of 

 the whitetail. The degradation displays itself in some cases in the antlers, 

 which may be reduced to nearly or quite simple spikes, sloping backwards 

 in the plane of the face ; in others it takes the form of the loss or 

 rudimentary condition of the metatarsal gland and tuft ; while in yet other 

 instances it shows itself by the absence of a seasonal change of colour. 

 Many naturalists regard all these different forms as distinct species, but 

 they seem to be nothing more than dwarfed and retrograde phases of a 

 single widely spread and variable type. 



In the present form (with which the Cervus acdpu/cciisis of Mr. Caton 

 is identical) there is no seasonal change in the colour of the coat, which is 

 dark chestnut-brown on the upper-parts, with the face blackish, the under- 

 parts white, and the tail, of which the tip is truncated, brown above and 

 white below. The metatarsal gland and tuft on the hind cannon-bone are 

 absent. The antlers, too, show signs of degradation, as compared with 

 those of the Virginian whitetail, being short, upright, nearly straight, and 

 slightly palmated, with a reduction in the number of the tines, and but 

 little forward projection. In size this whitetail is about one-third less than 

 the South Mexican form, but with a relatively longer tail. It inhabits 

 Yucatan and parts of the south of Mexico, but the precise limits of its 

 range are not yet defined. 



