Game Animals of India, etc. 



at the shoulder ; the length from the nose to the root 

 of the tail varies from i8 to 22 inches, the tail itself 

 measuring only an inch, or an inch and a quarter ; 

 the weight is from five to six pounds. In colour the 

 upper-parts are rich brown (darker in some individuals 

 than in others), speckled with yellow, the individual 

 hairs being brown at the roots and black at the tips, 

 below which they are ringed with yellow, thus causing 

 the speckled appearance of the coat. The sides of the 

 body, from the shoulder to the rump, are marked with 

 longitudinal rows of white or buff spots, which tend 

 to form streaks about half-way down ; and the inner 

 surface of the ears, a streak above each eye, three 

 broad stripes on the throat and chest, together with 

 the under-parts, are white. 



The range of this chevrotain is limited to the forests 

 of Ceylon and Southern India at elevations not ex- 

 ceeding about 2000 feet above the sea ; its northern 

 extension including Orissa, Chutia Nagpur, the 

 eastern division of the Central Provinces, and the 

 Western Ghats to the northward of Bombay. Its 

 reported occurrence farther north requires confirma- 

 tion. The animal is evidently a member of the Malay 

 fauna ; and the group, as is attested by the occurrence 

 of fossilised remains of extinct species in the sub- 

 Himalaya, must have existed in Northern India at a 

 time when Ceylon formed a portion of the peninsula. 



Meminna is the Cingalese name of the species, and 

 is mentioned by Robert Knox in a work on Ceylon, 

 published during the reign of Charles II. : — "Deer," 

 it is there written, " are in great abundance in the 

 woods, from the largeness of a cow to the smallness 

 of a hare, for there is a creature in this land no bigger 

 than the latter, though every part rightly resembleth 

 a deer ; it is called Meminna^ of a grey colour, with 

 white spots and good meat." Although now commonly 

 known by Europeans as mouse -deer. Sir Emerson 

 Tennent states that in his time it was called " moose- 



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