414 Zoological Society. 



In the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1836 I drew atten- 

 tion to the glands on the hind-legs as affording very good characters 

 to arrange the subgenera proposed by De Blainville and Colonel Smith 

 into natural groups, which in most particulars agreed with the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the species. 



Dr. Sundevall, in his Essay on Pecora, has availed himself of the 

 suggestions in my paper, and has also pointed out some other exter- 

 nal characters, such as the form and extent of the muffle, which afford 

 good marks of distinction in these animals, — such as I believe are 

 much more important for the distinction of the genera and species 

 than those derived from the form of the skull or the modifications of 

 the teeth, or the form and size of the horns ; as they are not, like 

 those parts, so liable to alteration from age, local circumstances and 

 other changes during the growth of the animal, and they can be seen 

 in the females as well as the males, which is not the case with the 

 horns, as they can only be observed in the male sex. 



The Deer may be thus divided : 



a. The Deer of the Snowy Regions have a very broad muzzle, 

 entirely covered with hair ; the horns are expanded and pal- 

 mated, and the fawns are not spotted. 



a. The Alcine Deer have no basal anterior snag to the horns, and a 



small, bald muffle between the nostrils, as the genus Alces. 



b. The Rangerine Deer have a large basal anterior snag to the horns, 



close on the crown or burr, and no muffle, as Tarandus. 



u. The Deer of the Temperate qr Warm Regions have a 

 tapering muzzle, ending in a bald muffle ; the fawn, and some- 

 times the adult, are spotted. 



c. The Elaphine Deer have a distinct anterior basal snag to the horns, 



the muffle broad, and separated from the lip by a hairy band, 

 and the tuft of hair on the outside of the hind-leg above the 

 middle of the metatarsus, as Cervus and Dama. 



d. The Rusine Deer have a distinct anterior basal snag to the horns, 



the muffle very high, and not separated from the edge of the lip, 

 and the tuft of hair on the outside of the hind-leg above the 

 middle of the metatarsus, as Recervus, Panolia, Rusa, Axis, Hy- 

 elaphus, and Cervulus. 



e. The Capreoline Deer have no basal anterior snag to the horn, the 



first branch being some distance above the burr ; the suborbital 

 crumen (and pit in the skull) generally small, as Capreolus, Ca- 

 riacus, Blastocerus, Furcifer, and Coassus. 



The Alcine and Rangerine Deer are confined to the Northern part 

 of both continents ; the Elaphine and Rusine Deer to the Eastern 

 World, the latter almost exclusively to the warmer part of Asia ; the 

 Capreoline Deer are peculiar to America. The only exception to 

 these rules are, the Wapiti Deer of the Elaphine group is found in 

 Northern America, and the Roebuck and Ahu of the Capreoline group 

 are found in Europe and North Asia, 



