Dr. N. Severtzoff on the Mammals of Turkestan. 385 



According to the statements of the Kirgies it is to be met with 

 on all the mountain-chains of the western Tliian-Slian, on the 

 tributaries of the Susa-mir, Talas, and Cliirchik, as well as in 

 the Karatau mountains ; it mostly keeps to the fir- woods, as 

 is stated above, and is exceedingly rare in localities which 

 do not abound with these trees. 



I myself did not observe it at Karatau, but met with some 

 specimens of G. ca'preolus-pygargus^ and even saw the track 

 of a bear. Also in Copal I noticed some bears, but could not 

 find any stag — although it occurs there, as considerable num- 

 bers of them are shot annually ; and therefore I believe the 

 Kirgies' statAuent to be quite correct, as there is nothing to 

 disprove it. 



Besides the Altai, this stag inhabits in Siberia the country 

 about the upper part of the Jennissey, as far as Crasnojarsk, 

 as well as the wooded hills of the Sajan and Zabaikalje ; to 

 the south it probably goes as far as the desert of Gobi. 



Up to the present time this stag has been described as a 

 Siberian variety of G. elaplius ; it only remains now to explain 

 how this mistake originated. 



All the zoologists followed Pallas, and made the same mis- 

 take as he did, although among them, I must state, there were 

 several who had even seen the deer themselves, as Radde, 

 Schrenck, and Middendorff. It appears to me that Pallas 

 was confused by the summer dress of the maral, which 

 resembles that of G. elaphus] and not having a sufficient 

 number of specimens, he may have thought that the differ- 

 ences in the horns were not constant. Besides, at that time 

 it was not known that the two continents were separated by a 

 sea during the glacial period, nor even that Asia and America 

 were connected with each other ; so that it seems quite natural 

 that Pallas did not compare the present species with G. cana- 

 densis^ but with G. elaphus^ and took the present species for 

 a variety of the latter. The later zoologists followed Pallas 

 without even taking the trouble of an exact examination of the 

 two species. 



I was led to compare them by a mistake I originally made, 

 which did not appear in print, but which I am willing to 

 acknowledge. 



When a student at Moscow I had made a drawing of the 

 Altai stag's horn for M. Roulier. At that time I had very 

 carefully noticed the characters ; afterwards, however, I mis- 

 took a horn of the real G. canadensis for one of the present 

 species : the horn belonged to a stag obtained in California, 

 and is now in the St.-Petersburg Academy Museum. Later 



