170 BITLLETTN Ti, UNITED STATER NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



oi' hu'hryinal vncuitv of siicli diineiisions as to exclude the lacliryiiia] 

 hone from articulation with the nasaL Upper canines usually pres- 

 ent in hoth sexes, and sometimes attaining^ a very great size in the 

 male. Lateral dig:its of hoth fore and hind feet almost always 

 pi'esent. and frequently the distal ends of the metapodials. Placenta 

 with few cotyledons, (iall hladder absent (except in Moschus). 

 {Flower, Encyc. Brit.. Ninth ed., XV., p. 432.) 



Subfamily CERVHST^T:. 



Plorns deciduous, solid, developed from the frontal hone, more or 

 less branched, covered at first by a soft, hairy integument, knoAvn as 

 "velvet;'' when the horns attain their full size, which they do in 

 a very short time, there arises at the base of each a ring of tubercles, 

 known as the "burr;** this compresses and finally obliterates the 

 blood vessels supplying the velvet, which dries up and is strip])ed 

 off, leaving the bone hard and insensible; the horns or " antlers *' are 

 shed annually, the separation of the " beam " from its " pedicel '* tak- 

 ing place just l:)elow the burr; antlers are [normally] wanting in the 

 female (excepting in the reindeer), but they are present in the male 

 of nearly all species. Stomach in four divisions, of the ordinary 

 ruminant pattern. Dental formula, /. '^g; c. (usually) "~j; piii. |^. 

 m. gZiV (Jordan.) 



Genus ODOCOILEUS Rafinesque (1832). 

 OdocoUciix ItAKiNESQiE. Atlantic .Timnuil, 1, i).10!>. Aiitnnni of 1S32. 



Tijpe.—Odocoileus speleus Rafinesque=^V;v'^/,v dantd (tmericanus 

 Erxlebex, or a closely related subfossil form. 



For the use of this name in place of Carhu-us (Lesson, Nouv. Tabl. 

 Regne Animal, 1842, p. 173) and Dorcelaphufi (Gloger. Hand.-u. 

 Hilfsb. der Naturgesch., 1841, pp. XXXIII, 140), see Meriuam, Proc. 

 Biol. Soc. Wash., XII, j). 09, April 30, 189S. 



Regarded by Lydekker (The Deer of All Lands, 1898, p. 243), as 

 forming part of the genus Mazama. 



Chdract^rx. — Horns small, curving forward, the first snag short, 

 at some distance above the base, and like the others curving upward ; 



the conclusion of the war the remnant of these useful beasts once more came 

 under the Government of the United States, and others were purchased in 

 38GG. These were distributed through Arizona and Texas for breeding pur- 

 poses ; but many died, and the experiment proved unsatisfactory. Consequently 

 those that survived were turned adrift to shift for themselves. During the 

 pei-iod occupied by the Boundary Survey some camels were known to exist, 

 most of them north of the Gila River, in southwest Arizona. We saw a skel- 

 eton of one on the Tule Desert, but no living camel. [For an account of the 

 introduction of camels and dromedaries into Texas, see Attwator, Bull. Am. 

 Mus. Nat. Hist.. VI. 1X04. ].. 184.] 



