212 



BULLETIN 56^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



curled, Avliitish hairs, and are gray externally, with the anterior 

 border and tip broadly black. Eyelids and crown of head, black. 

 The chest is sooty, and the belly white. The tail (fig. 28) is naked 

 on the inner surface for one-third its length; color 

 white at base, with a black terminal brush, and but 

 faint traces of the colored line on its upper side, 

 which is often plainly marked in this deer. In 

 this individual there is no distinct vertebral 

 stripe. The horns, which were just starting, meas- 

 ure 30 mm. in length. Metatarsal gland (fig. 29) 

 75 mm. in length; the tuft of hair in which it 

 lies, 125. 



Specimens examined later in the season were 

 redder, with less sooty on the chest, the color deep- 

 ening to cinnamon rufous on the back, becoming 

 paler on the head, neck, and limbs. Both summer 

 and winter skins had the dark vertebral line. 

 Near the Pacific 

 coast, this deer has 

 smaller ears than 

 in the interior, 

 near the desert; 

 and in summer its 

 color is redder. 



A herd seen near the last Monument 



(No. 258) was almost as red as the 



range cattle feeding near them. 



The blackish areas found on the 



mule deer of the interior region of 



the continent are much more intense 



in the Pacific-coast form. The 



crown of the head, much of the 



ears, and a vertebral stripe are usu- 

 ally very black. When the dark 



vertebral line is plainly marked, it 



is usually prolonged on the upper 



side of the tail (fig. 28), connecting 



Avith the black terminal brush. 



The tail is composed of nine short 



vertebra?, Odocoileus couesi having 



eleven nuich longer ones. Odo- 



coUrits liem'tomis eaTtforninis has 



the longest tail of auy form of the group known from the jNIexican 



Border. Those from the desert side of the Coast Range often lack 



the black line on the upper side of the tail, and their paler colora- 



FlG. 29. — OllOCOILEUS 

 HEMIONUS CALIFORNI- 



cus. Metatar- 

 sal GLAND. (Cat.Nd. 

 60906. U.S.N. M.) 



Fig. 30.— Odocoileus hemionus californi- 

 cus. Teeth of young male. (Cat. No. 

 60906, U.S.N.M.) a, Profile of right up- 

 per MOLAR series; 6, CROWNS OF RIGHT 

 UPPER MOLAR SERIES; C, PROFILE OF RIGHT 

 LOWER MOLAR SERIES; d, CROWNS OF RIGHT 

 LOWER JMOLAR SERIES; f, INCISOR-CANINE 

 SERIES, FRONT VIEW. 



