On the Siha-Deer of North China. 119 



VIII. — Notes upon the Slka-Deer of North China. 

 By Arthue de Carle Sowerby, F.Z.S., F.R.G-.S. 



The opportunity has recently been afforded me of examining 

 a fully adult Sika stag, shot by Mr. J. Holmberg, of Tien- 

 tsin, in the Fen-ehou Fu district of West Shansi, during 

 December 1916. 



Previous to this, I believe, no complete specimen of this 

 animal has ever been secured by a European ; while, as far 

 as I know, the only reference to it in any publication is that 

 bv Pere Heude in his ' Me'moires concernant PHistoire 

 Naturelle de PEmpive Chinois ' (tome iv. p. 210, pi. xxxvii. 

 fig. 13), wherein he names the species Cervus grassianus, 

 from a single pair of antlers from Tching-Io-hsien (Tsing-lo 

 Hsien), fcShansi. In a paper written by me on Pere Heude's 

 collection of pigs, sika, serows, and gorals in the Sikawei 

 Museum, Shanghai, and published in the ' Proceedings of 

 the Zoological Society of London,' April 1917, pp. 7-26, I 

 suggested that the Shansi sika should be classed for the time 

 being with Milne-Edwards's Cervus mandarinus, though I 

 stated then that winter skins that I had seen were lighter in 

 colour than the figure given by Milne-Edwards. 



The stag which Mr. Holmberg so kindly allowed me to 

 examine is, however, fully as dark as Milne-Edwards's winter 

 figure, though in this connection it is interesting to note that 

 Mr. Holmberg states that the hinds and young that he saw 

 with the stag were very much lighter. This agrees with my 

 own observations. I have had no opportunity of determining 

 whether or not the hinds and young of the Chihli sika are 

 lighter than the stags ; but as a result of my r examination of 

 Mr. Holmberg' s specimen I do not hesitate to "confirm Pere 

 Heude's separation of the Shansi sika from the other Chinese 

 forms, and, although he gave no description, the fact that he 

 gives a figure of a pair of antlers from Tsing-lo Hsien, West 

 Shansi, makes his name hold good. Following is a diagnosis 

 and description of the species : — 



Cervus grassianus, Heude.- 



Cervus grassianus Heude, ' Mgtnoires concernant l'Histoire Naturelle 

 de l'Empire Cbinois,' tome iv. p. 210, pi. xxxvii. fig. 13. 



A single fully adult male in winter pelage examined, also 

 two winter skins of fully adult females, and a summer skin 

 of a male, as well as two fully developed pairs of antlers, all 

 from West Shansi. 



<$ complete, from mountains 100 miles S.W. of Fen-chou 

 Fu, Shansi, N. China. 



