VERTEBRATA: MAMMALIA. 713 



generally associated with the true Musk-deer (Moschus) in a 

 single family, under the name of Moschida. The researches 

 of Milne-Edwards and Flower, however, would prove that 

 Moschus itself is really one of the Cennda or Deer proper, and 

 that the Chevrotains form a group by themselves. 



The TragulidcR are characterised by the total absence of 

 horns in both sexes, and by the presence of canines in both 

 jaws, those in the upper jaw being in the form of tusks in the 

 males, but much smaller in the females. The third stomach, 

 or " psalterium," is wanting, and the placenta is diffuse. The 

 feet have supplementary toes, and the metacarpals of the 

 middle and ring digits either unite in late life to form a canon- 

 bone, or remain (as in Hyomoschus) permanently separate. 



The family includes at the present day only the Hyomoschus 

 of Western Africa, and some four or five species of Tragulus 

 from the Indian province. The best known are the Tra- 

 gulus Javanicus, or " Napu " of Java, and the T. meminna of 



Fig. 408. Side-view of the skull of Tragulus Javanicus. (After Giebel.) 



India. They are all very small elegant animals, and, though 

 commonly called " Musk-deer," they have no musk-gland. 



c. Cervidcz. This family is of much greater importance than 

 that of the Tragulidcz, including as it does all the true Deer. 

 They are distinguished from the other Ruminants chiefly by 

 the nature of the horns, which are wanting in the genera Mos- 

 chus, Hydropotes, and Lophotragns. With the single exception 

 of the Reindeer, these appendages are confined to the males 

 amongst the Cervida^ and do not occur in the females. They 

 do not consist, as in the succeeding group, of a hollow sheath 

 of horn surrounding a central bony core, nor are they perma- 

 nently retained by the animal. On the other hand, the horns 

 or, as they are more properly called, the antlers of the 

 Cervida are deciduous, and are solid. They are bony through- 

 out, and are usually more or less branched (fig. 410), and they 

 are annually shed and annually reproduced at the breeding 



