THE HOOFED MAMMALS. 141 



formed and subsequently shed, but it may be mentioned that the annual 

 formation of such an enormous amount of bone as is contained in the antlers 

 of the wapiti, for instance, is one of the most extraordinary phenomena to be 

 met with in the whole animal kingdom. As regards their distribution, it is 

 remarkable that deer are totally absent from Africa south of the Sahara, as 

 they are from Madagascar. Although the more northern deer inhabiting the 

 New World are either generically or specifically identical with Old World 

 forms, the majority of the American forms, and all those inhabiting South 

 America, are perfectly distinct from those of other regions. 



The most aberrant members of the family are the well-known musk-deer 

 (Moschus) of Asia, which constitute a sub-family by themselves, and are 

 represented by one species (M. moschi- 

 ferus) ranging from the Himalaya and 

 Cochin-China to Siberia, and by a 

 second (M. sifaniciis) from Kansu, in 

 North-Western China. One of the 

 peculiar features of these deer the 

 presence of a gall-bladder in the liver 

 has been already referred to ; a second, 

 although less peculiar character, is the 

 absence of antlers in both sexes. To 

 compensate for this deficiency, the 

 upper jaw of the male is provided with 

 a pair of long scimitar-like tusks, which 

 may project as much as three inches Fig. 73. MUSK-DEER (Moschus moschiferus). 

 below the margin of the lips. The 



musk-deer has moderately long and somewhat pointed ears, a short tail, very 

 large lateral hoofs to the feet, and the fur of a peculiarly coarse and brittle 

 nature, its general colour being a speckled brownish-grey. The most peculiar 

 feature about the animal is, however, the presence on the abdomen of the 

 male of a large gland, discharging by a small orifice, and secreting the highly 

 odoriferous substance known as musk, which is much used in perfumery, and 

 commands a high price in the market. For the sake of obtaining this pre- 

 cious product, musk-deer are regularly hunted by the natives of the countries 

 they inhabit ; one plan being to drive them against nets. In the Himalaya 

 they are met with either singly or in pairs ; and during the early spring may 

 be seen traversing the snow-clad birch and pine forests. 



Of the more typical deer, the first group is that of the Oriental muntjacs 

 (Cervulus), all of which are comparatively small species characterised by the 

 short antlers arising from long bony pedicles on the skull, which rapidly 

 converge as they descend the face. From this peculiarity these animals 

 are often called rib-faced deer. The males have large tusks ; and the 

 antlers consist of a beam, or shaft, with a small tine at the base. In the 

 lateral toes all traces of the bones have disappeared. There appear to be 

 three well-marked species of muntjacs, the range of the genus extending from 

 India to Eastern Tibet and China. In common with most of the deer of the 

 Old World , the muntjacs are characterised by the retention of the upper ex- 

 tremities of the lateral metacarpal and metatarsal bones of the feet. Nearly 

 allied to the muntjacs are two small deer from China and Eastern Tibet, 

 constituting the genus Elaphodus, and commonly known, from the presence 

 of a tuft of hair between the antlers, as tufted deer. They differ from the 

 muntiacs in that the pedicles of the antlers converge, instead of diverging, as 



