428 EXTINCT AND VANISHING MAMMALS 



The various subspecies of Musk Deer show remarkable powers 

 of survival in the face of very severe persecution by native trappers 

 and hunters in the mountains of Asia. Their small size and secre- 

 tive habits constitute perhaps their chief protection. European 

 hunters see comparatively little of them. Reports as to their present 

 numbers vary considerably from one area to another. For the sake 

 of completeness, all of the subspecies will be mentioned at least 

 briefly in the following accounts. 



In the group as a whole, the build is stout and heavy ; the limbs 

 (especially the hind ones) are long and thick; antlers absent; tail 

 rudimentary; ears large; hair coarse, thick, brittle, pithy; lateral 

 hoofs large and functional; upper canines greatly developed and 

 projecting below the lips in the male, smaller in the female; male 

 with a globular, musk-secreting gland in the skin of the abdomen. 

 Height at shoulder, about 20-24 inches. (Lydekker, 18986, p. 310.) 



The general color of the typical subspecies is brownish (warm 

 sepia or Prouts brown) ; spots reddish brown and yellowish ; ears 

 brownish gray at base, dark brown at tip; abdomen brownish gray 

 (Flerov, 1929, p. 516). 



The taxonomic status and the geographical distribution of the 

 various proposed subspecies are not well determined and so can 

 be given here only provisionally. The name M. m. moschijerus will 

 be applied to the animal inhabiting the mountain areas from the 

 Altai to eastern Siberia and Manchuria. 



"The first musk deer to reach Europe was perhaps the one men- 

 tioned by Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller, who in the thirteenth 

 century brought back with him the head and feet of a specimen 

 he secured in his journey to 'Tartary.' He mentions it as abundant 

 in the Altai and northern Chinese country, especially about Si-fan." 

 (G. M. Allen, 1930, pp. 7-8.) Allen records two specimens from 

 45 to 60 miles northeast of Urga, Mongolia. 



Pallas (1779, pp. 15-16) records the species from the Altai region, 

 including the headwaters of the Irtish, the Ob, and the Yenisei; 

 also from the upper Lena and the Vitim. 



Carruthers writes (1913, pp. 157, 630) that in western Mongolia 

 the Musk Deer is found only in the mountains of the Upper Yenisei 

 Basin and that it is represented in the profusion of skins adorning 

 every native's home in that region. 



According to Salesski (1934, pp. 369-370), the range in western 

 Siberia is largely restricted to the Altai region. Here it occurs 

 from the headwaters of the two Abakan Rivers to Lake Teletzk 

 and the Chulyshman Plateau. It is found also on the north slope of 

 the Chuya Alps and on the southeastern side of the Sailugem Range. 

 In this whole region it is more or less common. Twenty-five or 

 thirty years ago it still occurred in the region of Abai and Ustj-kan. 



