THE WATER CHEVROTAIN 989 



which may be nearly black, running along the nape of the neck. The under parts 

 are whitish, more or less mixed with rufous, but there is generally (as in our illus- 

 tration ) a broad reddish or brown stripe running up the front of the chest. With 

 the exception of the royal antelope (p. 896), this chevrotain is the smallest of all 

 living Ungulates; it has a very wide geographical distribution, being found in Cam- 

 bodia, Cochin-China, South Tenasserim, the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, and 

 Borneo. The last species is the Philippine chevrotain ( T. nigrieans) , confined to 

 the islands from which it takes its name. Remains of a fossil chevrotain have been 

 discovered in the Pliocene rocks of the Siwalik hills at the foot of the Himalayas. 



All the chevrotains appear to be very similar in their habits. They 

 have a peculiar way of walking in a mincing manner on the extreme 

 tips of their hoofs, which communicates a stiff and rigid appearance to the legs, and 

 has thus given rise to the popular notion that these animals have no joints. Chev- 

 rotains lie concealed in grass or jungle, and only venture out to feed in the evening 

 and morning. They are timid and shy, but in confinement soon become tame and 

 gentle, and have been known to breed. Writing of the Indian species, Colonel 

 Tickell observes that " it is found throughout the jungly districts of Central India 

 (z. e., Chutia Nagpur), but from its retired habits is not often seen. It never ven- 

 tures into open country, but keeps among rocks, in the crevices of which it passes 

 the heat of the day, and into which it retires on the approach of an enemy. In these 

 the female brings forth her young (two in number), generally at the close of the 

 rains or the commencement of the cold season. The male keeps with the female 

 during the rutting season (about June or July), but at other times they live 

 solitary." The smaller Malayan chevrotain, which is very common in the Penin- 

 sula, inhabits dense thickets, and produces either one or two fawns at a birth. 



THE WATER CHEVROTAIN 

 Genus Dorcathertum 



The water chevrotain (Dorcatherium aquaticum), of the West Coast of Africa, is 

 the only surviving representative of a genus which appears to have been widely 

 spread in the Old World during the Pliocene and Miocene epochs of the Tertiary 

 period. Indeed, the genus was originally founded upon the evidence of one of these 

 extinct species, the living form having been subsequently described under the name 

 of Hyomoschus, and it is only recently that zoologists have generally recognized the 

 generic identity of the recent and fossil species. 



The water chevrotain is mainly distinguished from the true chevrotains of Asia 

 by the feet being shorter and stouter, with relatively-larger lateral toes, and, above 

 all, by the circumstance that the two middle metacarpal bones remain completely 

 separate, as shown in the figure on p. 987. The living species is slightly superior 

 in size to the largest of the Asiatic chevrotains, and resembles the Indian repre- 

 sentative of the latter in having the body spotted and striped with white. The 

 general color of the fur is a rich brown, with a large amount of white on the throat 

 and chest, as well as on the under surface of the tail; the upper part of the body is 



