358 THE: EVEN-TOED UNGULATES 



particularly delicate, diminutive, graceful animals, the slenderness 

 and clear-cut outline of their limbs being particularly striking. 

 The absence of antlers in both sexes, their elegantly pointed noses, 

 and large dark eyes give these animals a very characteristic 

 appearance. The bones of the feet show that these Deerlets can- 

 not be correctly classed with the more ordinary ruminants, but 

 that they approach more closely to the swine. To quote again 

 Professor Garrod : " Each foot of the common pig possesses four 

 toes, that corresponding to our thumb in the fore-limb, and to 

 our great toe in the hind, being absent. The bones of all these 

 toes are quite separate from one another, as in those of man, at 

 the same time that those of the outer and inner digits in each 

 limb are smaller than those which bear the larger hoofs. In the 

 true ruminants and in the camel tribe these larger toes are 

 partly fused together, the bones of digit three and digit four cor- 

 responding to those situated in the human palm and sole, being 

 joined from end to end to form the ' cannon-bone ' ; whilst those 

 of digit two and digit five are reduced to mere imperfect splinters, 

 or are sometimes altogether lost, as in the giraffe and in the 

 camel. Now, in the Deerlets, these bones are not blended at all 

 in the fore limbs of the Water Deerlet of West Africa, in which, 

 as in all the other species, digit two and digit five are perfect 

 from end to end. They therefore stand, in this respect as in 

 others, easily explained, intermediate between the swine and the 

 true ruminants." 



The Deerlets are Oriental and West African in their range, 

 being found in India, Ceylon, Malacca, Java, Sumatra, Sierra 

 Leone, and the Gambia. Their bodies are about the size of that 

 of a hare or rabbit, and the legs are long and extraordinarily 

 slender. 



The Camels, together with the Llamas, form the tribe Tylopoda, 

 a name which is derived from the Greek, and signifies that the 

 feet are not protected by hoofs, but are covered with a hardened 

 skin enclosing the cushion-like soles of the feet, which are so 

 constructed that they spread out when brought in contact with 

 the ground an arrangement of decided advantage to desert- 

 frequenting animals. The Camels of the Old World are divided 

 into two quite distinct species, the Bactrian Camel (Camelus bac- 

 trianus), with two humps, and the Dromedary (C. dromedaries), 



