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reason to believe that it is not originally a native of 

 those islands, but has been imported from the conti- 

 nent of Asia, probably from China. A specimen was 

 brought to Paris, by Quoy and Gainard, in Freycinet's 

 voyage of discovery, of which the following is a de- 

 scription : " It is more robust, but not much taller 

 than the roebuck, with round divergent horns standing 

 on a low pedicle, having two antlers, the basal nearly 

 vertical, and at its junction with the beam a small 

 process, not unlike a trilobed tooth ; the other is pos- 

 terior and internal, and compared with the size of the 

 head, the horns are large and heavy, being about thir- 

 teen inches long ; their colour is ashy, and they are 

 extremely rugged. Between the horns the skull has 

 a longitudinal eminence, and before the orbits, near 

 the base of the nose, are two longitudinal convexities, 

 very remarkable, and the species is destitute of canines, 

 by which character it approaches to the true axis ; the 

 face is almost black, with a streak running down from 

 the horns, between the eyes, to the nose ; the muzzle 

 small and black, and the colour of the whole body 

 dark brown, slightly mixed with grey, at least such are 

 the colours now discernible, the specimen being in a 

 bad state of preservation ; the tail is about four inches 

 long, and black. A fawn brought from the same island 

 in the above museum is fulvous-brown, without spots ; 

 the throat is whitish ; a white spot at the end of the 

 lower jaw, and one at the base of the ear. The inside 

 and anterior border of the thighs and buttocks are 

 white, and the legs buff." This species, like most of 

 those of the islands, is described as being very tame 

 and gentle in its manners, which gives additional 

 ground for supposing that it is not an aboriginal 

 animal, but has been carried to the islands from con- 

 tinental Asia. 



Rus A OF TIMOR Cervus Peronii. Only the head, we 

 believe, of this species has been brought to Europe ; 

 and from the little acquaintance that we have of the 

 interior of the island of Timor, nothing is known of 

 its habits in its native country. It is understood to 

 be smaller than any of the rest of the group, dark 

 coloured, with slender horns, and the second snag 

 forming a more regular fork with the tip than in the 

 other species of the group. This is the most southerly 

 inhabiting deer in all the eastern continent or its 

 islands ; for the next land which we meet with to the 

 south of Timor is New Holland, in which there are 

 no deer, except such as may have been very recently 

 imported by the colonists. 



Axis. The animals of this group stand nearly in 

 the same relation to the fallow-deer of Europe, as the 

 rusas do to the stag. They are smaller in size, and 

 less vigorous in structure ; they have no canine teeth, 

 and their skins are, generally speaking, dappled with 

 white spots. Generally speaking, they inhabit lower 

 down than the deer formerly described. 



The SPOTTED Axis Cervus Axis. The chief dis- 

 tinction between this species and our fallow-deer is in 

 the form of the horns, which are round in their section 

 through and without any palm. The horns stand 

 nearly vertical, only with a slight bend forward, and 

 the points inclined towards each other. They have 

 a basal antler pointed forwards, and another on the 

 middle of the beam turned backwards ; the muzzle is 

 black, and there are no lachrymal sinuses. There is, 

 indeed, so much resemblance between this species and 

 fallow-deer that when their horns are shed, it is dif- 

 ficult to distinguish the one from the other. The chief 

 marking colour is in the dorsal, line, and the disk on 



E R. 



the buttocks. The dorsal lino in the axis is very 

 deep-brown, and marked with white spots, while that 

 on the fallow-deer is paler, and has the spots only on 

 the margin. The disk in the fallow-deer is white, that 

 on the axis is yellowish. The two sexes are also more 

 equal in size than the fallow-deer, the female being 

 larger than the doe, and the male not larger than the 

 buck. There are, however, considerable varieties 

 both in size and in colour. 



Axis Deer. 



These deer are very plentiful in the lower districts 

 of India, where they inhabit the margins of the jun- 

 gles ; they are known by the general name of hog- 

 deer, and are much prized by the sportsmen of the 

 east. We believe they are seldom met with in the 

 countries above the Ghauts, or passes of the moun- 

 tains, as the large deer are seldom met with below ; 

 and, indeed, in all their characters, and in all their 

 habits, they correspond so much with fallow-deer that, 

 notwithstanding the different form of the horns, it is 

 difficult to refrain from considering them as the same 

 species ; and, perhaps, as the parent stock which has 

 supplied the fallow-deer to the western world. Several 

 varieties have been described, but they appear more 

 accidental than otherwise, so that it is unnecessary to 

 mention them particularly. 



There is still another group of deer, belonging to 

 the south-east of Asia and the Oriental Islands, 

 which have very peculiar characters, and which are 

 decidedly distinct from any of the rest. Their most 

 remarkable characters are, that the males have the 

 horns upon peduncles, which can be traced upon 

 prominent ridges down the forehead almost to the 

 nose and canine teeth in the upper jaw, which are so 

 long that they protrude beyond the lips. They have 

 also very deep lachrymal sinuses. The tongue is very 

 long, and they can "protrude it upwards as far as the 

 eyelids. They appear to be intermediate between 

 the deer, properly so called, and the musks ; and it 

 is doubtful whether they shed their horns seasonally 

 like the other deer. They have been brought chiefly 

 from the Sunda and Philippine islands ; but there is 

 also a species in Nepal. There is some difficulty 

 about the different species, but there seems no doubt 

 that several of them are distinct, and those which are 

 obtained from the Philippine islands, from the Sunda 



