258 BUSING. 



more or less developed mane, and the more or less marked caudal disk. 

 Many of these differences are, however, observed in individuals from 

 the same part of the country, and others appear due to age or climate. 

 Elliot, in his Catalogue, considered all to be varieties of one species. 

 He says, " The horns of different individuals present great diversities 

 of form. I have met with instances of medial antlers, of trifurcated 

 extremities, and in one case with the extremity showing a fourfold 

 division." I have seen many sambers in Southern India with a 

 trifurcate extremity to one or both horns, and more rarely a horn 

 without the terminal snag, corresponding to Hodgson's heterocercus. 



The horns vary much in thickness and length, some being very massive 

 but of no great length, others being comparatively thin but long, and the 

 divergence of the horns varies much, as well as the degree of curvature, 

 and the relative size of the terminal snags. The horns are considered to 

 attain their complete form in the fourth year, and after that go on in- 

 creasing in size for several years more, without any normal alteration of 

 form. The length of the horns rarely exceeds 40 inches (indeed the 

 generality are under 3 feet), but some are recorded 4 feet along the 

 curvature ; the basal antler 10 to 12 inches or more. The thickest pair of 

 horns in the Museum of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta, came from near 

 Cuttack, and are extraordinarily massive and heavy. An immense pair 

 from one killed in Mysore is alluded to by Colonel W. Campbell, in 

 his " Indian Journal," which he states (from recollection however) 

 to have been nearly 18 inches in circumference at the base. 



The colour too varies a good deal even in the same locality, some 

 being much darker than others. Mr. W. Elliot says, writing of the 

 Samber of the Southern Mahratta country, " The colour varies from 

 dark-brown to grayish-black or slate-black, with the chin, the inner 

 sides of the limbs, the under part of the tail, and the space between the 

 buttocks, yellowish-white, passing into orange-yellow, but never ex- 

 tending into a large circular disk on the buttocks. In several instances 

 I have met with the hinds of a pale yellow or light chestnut-colour. 

 The neck and throat are clothed with a long mane." 



The Samber, or Jerrow, is found in all the large forests of India, from 

 the extreme south to the Himalayas, ascending these mountains to 9,000 

 or 10,000 feet of elevation. Among other localities may be named the 

 Western Ghats throughout their whole extent, the Wynaad, Coorg, the 

 Neelgherries, many parts of Mysore, the^Eastern Ghats, the Yindhya and 



