48 ZOOLOGY OF INDIA. 



drawing was transmitted by Duvaucel to Paris, and has 

 been published by M. F. Cuvier. The horns are rather 

 short, with two small antlers at the base, pointing to the 

 front ; half-way up the beam a small snag turns forwards • 

 the suborbital openings are lar'ge ; the general colour is 

 yellowish brown-gray, with a large paler-coloured disk upon 

 the croup. The tail is very short. 



The Rusa group of stags is entirely Asiatic, and is dis- 

 tinguished by round horns, with a brow-antler, but without 

 any median or bezantler ; the beam terminates in a single 

 perch, with a snag more or less elongated, placed midway 

 or higher, on its anterior or posterior edge. 



The great Rusa {Cervus hippelaphus) is nearly as large 

 as a horse. It has trifurcated horns, very coarse hair, of a 

 fulvous-brown in summer, changing during the winter 

 season to a grayer hue ; it has no disk, and the tail is 

 rather long. This species is found in several of the Asiatic 

 islands, and in contmental India it occurs chiefly in the 

 Jungleterry district of Bengal. It corresponds to the great 

 axis of Pennant. 



The exact nature of the animal described by Aristotle 

 under the name of iTrjrfXa^oj has been a subject of consid- 

 erable controversy. Linnajus and Erxleben applied the 

 name to a species which occurs in the forests of Germany • 

 but, according to M. Duvaucel, it is undoubtedly the black 

 deer of Bengal.* Its horns are forked at the extremity, 

 and bear only a single antler at the base, similar, as Aris- 

 totle expressed it, to those of a roebuck.t 



The Gona Rusa (Cervus umcolor) inhabits Ceylon, and 

 IS the largest species of that island, surpassincr in size the 

 stag of Europe. The throat is loaded with long bristly 

 hair, the tail is short, and the general colour is a uniform 

 dark-brown. This species is very bold and fierce, and 

 dwells in the jungle and the deepest recesses of the forests 

 The saumer, or black Rusa of Bengal {Cervus Aristo- 

 tehs), inhabits the Prauss jungles. The male is nearly as 



* Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. p. 157. 



t In relation to this point, we should bear in mind Ruffon's important 

 observation regarding the Latin translation of Aristotle bv Theodore 

 ill^ A r '^' ''"^'■" '* "'^'■'^ ^i''*"" a^ 'li*? interpretation of Soxos, 

 »nb!fi?I "''"''''' V'"" '^""^ '" '^^ t"'"^''?^ regarding the horns, ^ve murt 

 substitute cnpea; for c/^jtcb, or the horns of a roe for those of a goat. 



